Memories
by freelancer2
Summary: ShikaIno Shikamaru faces the greatest challenge yet: forgetting the one she loves in an unfortunate mission. Twists of fate always seem to hinder their reunion. Could they overcome this hurdle? :Resumption Imminent!:
1. Prologue : In Need of a Leader

Ohayo!

I'm no Japanese but I would like to tell you now that I might consider inserting some Japanese expressions to make the conversations sound more interesting.

While I would tend to make the characters become OOC, I'll try to be faithful to their orginal behaviors. However, since this is a Shika-Ino pairing, I think you could grant the two to be a bit more sappy at times, _ne_?

Some of the formats you may expect to find in my stories are:

_Italic TNR text_ indicate inner thoughts.

Normal TNR text indicate normal story and conversations.

Underline TNR text indicate narrative points.

Other important stuff would be indicated later on.

Oh yeah, just to make things clear all throughout the story and so I don't repeat myself, **I do NOT own Naruto**. If Shikamaru was my brainchild though, that would **really** be cool.

Anyway, I may not make the greatest summaries and stories, but I hope you enjoy! Oh, and reviews would surely be appreciated!

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Prologue : In Need of a Leader_

In a hidden village beyond the borders of the Fire and Wind countries…

Five men were sitted around a table in what seems to be the ceremonial hall of a certain hidden village. One of them had the traditional white robe and headgear with the light blue seal that everyone would recognize as the one donned by their most respected Kage, while there were two advisers by his side. The remaining two, on the other hand, were such fearsome-looking jounins, awaiting word from their respected leader.

Finally, the Kage broke the silence.

"I think you already know why I have called you here."

Immediately, the jounins snapped and began to listen carefully.

"It has come to my attention that our country is steadily growing. However, as you may have noticed, this hidden village is but a rabble of talented but untrained nins. I would have to say that our performance lately was… shall we say, poor?"

The jounins were struck by this remark, but defeatedly admitted that the training of their village's potentially great genin was rather… pathetic.

"Every year," one of the Kage's advisers began, "only a dismal fifth out of the average twenty-five students in our academy get to graduate and become genin. Also, the number of able chunins and jounins are steadily decreasing due to the increasing number of casualties we obtain from our missions. I daresay that poor improvements in our medical methods make the situation any better."

"Considering our performance," the other adviser interjected, "we are dramatically losing our clients. Lately, even our country's daimyos are looking for ninjas from the foreign lands to do their work. The Kage has therefore decided that we should improve on our ninja training and tactical strategy divisions."

The Kage spoke once more. "While we do have our own brilliant men, I have observed those of the other countries' intelligence divisions, and frankly, we pale in comparison to them. Thus, I would like for you to-"

"Kage-sama," one jounin interrupted, "with all due respect, could we not simply diplomatically ask for advice and help from the leaders of Konoha? Surely the Hokage-"

"-Surely I have made myself clear before," the Kage a bit irritatedly said, "that we are to ally ourselves with neither the Wind nor the Fire countries, nor with any other country for that matter. I'm sure that you have heard the unfortunate events that had taken place in Konoha…"

"But Kage-sama, that was already three years ago."

The adviser butted in, having been aggravated by the jounin's disrespect, "Three years ago, yes. However, both the Fire and the Wind countries are still not in good terms with one another, recalling the treachery of the former Kazekage. Allying ourselves with either one could make them think that the other is establishing diplomatic ties to attempt yet again another act of war."

"The Sky country," the Kage calmly said, "has tried its best to go unnoticed by the other great countries. We make sure that our clients do not leak out our services to the other nations. We secure our own borders by silencing any spy the moment we spot them. We even continue to develop our own technology to hide any hint of our existence. Surely you understand that getting their attention now is not a wise option."

The two jounins agreed and decided to stay silent.

"Therefore, if neither of you has anything else to say… as I have already briefed you, you are to capture this man…"

One of the advisers handed the two jounins the profile of the wanted man, including his relatively recent picture. The ninjas were both stunned, having seen who they were ordered to capture for this obviously risky mission.

"Kage-sama," one of them asked, "are you sure that we should dare do this? I thought we are trying to prevent another outbreak of war? Why should it be this man?"

"Yes," the Kage replied, "we want to prevent an act of war. I, however, would want to bolster our ranks and expertise among the nin. If we are to prepare ourselves for any strike by the unstable countries and increase our strength and number, we need him. He is after all, a great tactician…"

The two jounins simply swallowed what they were about to do…

"I'm sure you two have seen this man's performance during their recent examination, haven't you?"

The Kage laughed to himself. "Sure he does not look the part, but he has been making a name out of himself recently…"

The jounins nodded to one another, recalling the impressive movements this man had executed during the chuunin exam that they have secretly sneaked into.

"Why…" the jounins began to whisper to each other, "Of all the countries… why do we have to get this man… from Konoha?"

* * *

A/N: So, does it get interesting so far? Don't worry, the romantic parts would appear soon enough. For now, I want to show you the plot, albeit short. Please review! _Arigato gozaimas!_


	2. Chapter 1 : A Day Like any Other

Ohayo!

I do NOT own Naruto, blah blah blah... Shikamaru's still the best!

I do not know for how long your average fanfiction goes, but as far as I have plotted, I have estimated that this story would take about twenty to twenty-five medium-length chapters (and I define medium as going 1000-1500 words). However, I do believe I could make some parts shorter or longer, depending on which ones call for it (like any romance or action stuff). So, I hope you could support this story by giving me your insights. Thanks!

Oh, by the way, if you find some technical inconsistencies in the terms and stuff, I would appreciate it if you could politely correct me on some of those parts.

I hope you enjoy guys! Reviews would surely be appreciated!

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter One : A Day Like Any Other_

Just another fine day in the Hidden Leaf Village…

Yet it was another fine, fair day in Konoha; everyone was going about doing their own business. Women were out on the streets sharing the latest stories around the village, chuunins were all over the place doing routinary activities like patrols and genin lessons, and heck, even the village leaders were going about their business, assigning teams to send out on missions. Well, considering all these, one would not even think that this was the same Konoha that was assailed by the combined Sand and Sound invasion teams three years into the past.

What have happened to that year's chuunin examinees?

For one, Naruto had managed to obtain the status of chuunin, and by the smiles that some of the people in town began sharing with him when he passes by one could tell that he is slowly getting to be appreciated by the people… though his pranks are still the least of all that they liked. For Naruto, recognition has been one of his greatest goals, but I guess the grand title of 'Hokage' is still far out of reach for him, considering that he still has a lot to learn even from Jiraiya.

Sasuke is ever the anti-social heartthrob in town, though by his 'exposure' with Naruto and Kakashi-sensei he is bit by bit growing perverted on the inside. No one could still manage to capture his attention though, as he still is obsessed with the idea of revenge and pride. Oh, and what happened to the seal Orochimaru had given him before? Well, it's still a pain in the neck (err, a bit literally, I suppose) but it still continues to be under control with the occasional intervention of Kakashi-sensei and Tsunade-sama.

Sakura has grown a lot… both intellectually and physically. Studying under Tsunade-sama, she is quick to learn all the medical jutsu she arranges each and every day that she even fears that Sakura could outgrow her capabilities! Sakura has managed to grow some curves of her own, but she still has a long way to go before that could be sexy enough to attract boys her age. If anyone could attest to her looks, Naruto would give her two-thumbs up all the way (though needless to say he likes her in the first place).

Best friend and all, Ino is not one to be outdone by someone as Sakura. This little brat is slowly growing to be a fine lady, learning all the beauty of and meanings behind flowers and getting along with so many people. Her body control jutsu is still not one to underestimate, as for the three years she has been refining her own techniques. As of late, she has even managed to learn parted consciousness body control so that she could at least take slight control of her body while taking advantage of the body of her target at the same time.

Nara Shikamaru (A/N: hurrah!) still is, and most probably will forever be, the lazy bum that he is. In spite of this, with the recent discovery of his intelligence that appears only in one in about a million nins, he has been given the chance (or shall we say forced?) to take the jounin exam. Not to anyone's surprise but much to everyone's admiration, he passed with flying colors! Now, with the jounin title, Tsunade-sama has promoted him to be the village's youngest ever tactical commander, which is, needless to say, too troublesome for him. Poor Shikamaru, all he wanted was to watch the clouds and live an extremely normal life, but now is forced to write down intelligence analyses for tactical missions!

Ah, Chouji… after three years, he has grown… quite literally. Following the advice of Asuma-sensei, he was instructed to learn and master the body size manipulation jutsus of his father. While even every jutsu attempt calls for a huge amount calories in as much as chakra, Chouji makes it a point never to miss meals… Let's just say he's growing to become more of a lean, mean, chubby crushing meatball machine…

What happened to the Byakugan cousins? You'd be happy to know that they're getting along much better these past three years. With Neji having grasped the truth about his family and with Hinata growing more and more courageous, both are managing to face their obstacles together quite well. Of course, that is to be expected of the Hyuuga clan; theirs is, and hopefully will continue to be, one of the strongest clans there is in the land of Konoha.

Rock Lee is ever so lively and youthful, always cheering on the hardworking students in the lower years at the academy. His Gai-sensei still gives him that approving sparkle-smile, which is often more than enough to keep the thick-brows happy. Lee is still continuing his lotus trainings, however, and, unknown to everyone else (under approval of his sensei of course), he had just managed to unlock six of his charka gates. Gai does not want him to go further anymore, fearing that his most loyal student could get more injury than when he had back during the chuunin exams.

TenTen is now considerably the most… developed among the kunoichis of her batch. With the tremendous demands of concentration and exercise that her weapons training requires, she has obtained a sexy physique that is not too slim nor too muscular. She does have that thing for Neji recently, though, but unfortunately she is now part of the league of unnoticed women in this harsh world of love.

Kiba is currently training to become part of the Anbu. Combined with the ultimate tracking skills of his buddy Akamaru, they are currently undergoing serious jungle training, enduring both rain and shine sometimes for days on end. At times, people just wonder if he really wants to be part of the Anbu, or if it is just one way that could hopefully get the attention of this female teammate that she likes…

Bugs? Well, Shino still is the strong, silent type bug lover we've known him to be. However, with his expertise, he has been assigned as part of the research nins that experiment in laboratories all over Konoha to discover more potent antidotes, elixirs and boosters from insects. He now owns an insect breeding grounds were their family grows and cross breeds more powerful and more useful insects. Now, if only his father would be able to teach him some other bug techniques that don't involve freaking other people out…

Everyone is busy with their own lives in Konoha. However, this humdrum of a routinary life is soon to be broken.

Just recently, Tsunade-sama had announced for a meeting of these special chuunins – with one jounin passively complaining – for an important impending mission. It seems that the neighboring countries can't get enough of some Konoha beating. In any case, the Hokage is intent on strengthening Konoha once more and on assuming its authority within its borders. She has devised some three-prong counter to send a strong message to the neighbors that the Fire country is one nation you shouldn't be messing with.

And yes, the future of Konoha and the safety of its people rests in the combined efforts of these special nins and kunoichis.

* * *

A/N: Still no progress, _ne?_ Don't worry, I just wanted to tell you how I think all our favorite Konoha shinobi progressed in the short three years. The true action would begin to unfold soon enough. Please review! _Arigato gozaimas!_


	3. Chapter 2 : Duty Calls

Ohayo!

I do NOT own Naruto, blah blah blah... Shikamaru's still the best!

For your regular Japanese translations, please refer to your more trustworthy sources. :D I only use those expressions that I find cute to insert in the story, so I hope you don't get bothered by these things. Let me just assume that being the Naruto fan that you are (or perhaps the anime fan in general), you know a bit about these stuff.

Now, I now turn you back to your regular programming. I hope you enjoy guys! Reviews would surely be appreciated!

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Two : Duty Calls_

Inside the Hokage's briefing room…

Almost everyone was already waiting inside the Hokage's office. The chuunins were gathered at this very important meeting, but everyone was feeling restless about the mission that they were all about to be assigned to. While it was obvious that all of them were worried, they tried to keep their minds preoccupied with other matters.

Sakura and Ino were busy arguing about who could soonest win Sasuke-kun's affection. Sakura would taunt Ino, Ino would retort and taunt Sakura back, and so on and so forth. Naruto was busy sharing with Lee his plans of getting the favor of the Hokage while keeping the other girls' attention away from that Sasuke at the same time. Hinata was leaning on the wall just across the room, still quiet and shy but continuing to admire that boisterous blonde-haired boy. Shino, Sasuke and Neji were left to their own solitary and seemingly aloof lives, sharing and enjoying the solitude of one corner of the room. Tenten, eager to get Neji's attention but unsure as how to do it, simply sat on the chair next to him. Chouji, the only guy in the group gobbling down on snacks, was just left to enjoy his munchies without any interruption.

An increasingly irritated Tsunade-sama, the village's respected Godaime, was still sitting as composedly as she could on her comfy chair. Though she was trying to hide it in the best way she could, each and every one of the shinobi in the room could feel her temper rise, everyone growing silent with each passing second. '_Man, why couldn't he be on time for once?_' was what everyone could have been thinking at that moment.

"_Gomenasai, minna_," Shikamaru had said, apologetically coming inside. "Sheesh… this day is getting a bit too troub-"

"I think," Tsunade-sama began, "that you are in NO POSITION to complain right now." Everyone could see that she was about to explode any minute.

"Alright alright… I already said I'm sorry…" _Hmph. That woman surely knows how to get on my nerves… The Hokage sure is troublesome…_

Everyone still felt tense at the silence that followed after. You could say that it was quite surprising that Shikamaru would act this way with Tsunade-sama. However, you could rather say that they were not surprised at all – Shikamaru wouldn't be Shikamaru if he didn't think that everything in the world was troublesome.

"Let us begin, shall we?" Tsunade-sama checked her bearings and breathed deeply before she continued. "I guess no one would be oblivious to the recent widespread news of our borders being breached by the shinobis and even meager bandits from the foreign lands."

Indeed, this had been the plight of their land for three years in the running now. For the very short while that they still are recovering from the shock of the invasion back then, different hostile elements have been taking advantage of the weakened military control over the lands. With each passing day, the number of merchants sacked by bandits is steadily growing; recently, the various daimyos of the realm have been unable to cope with the military and stability issues in their respective localities; and, for a long time now – much to the agitation of the populace, more and more foreign shinobi spies have been found all over the nation. If no appropriate action is taken, the Fire country could crumble into desolation.

Tsunade-sama continued, "Year by year, the number of genin teams that join our ranks is unable to catch up with the demand for various services, especially from our most loyal clients. Infrastructure is slowly recovering, though I should say that much effort is still needed to restore Konoha back into the dazzling spectacle that it was. Our security patrols are much more strained now than ever before, owing to the fact that nearly all of our jounins and even some of our chuunins are being sent away on missions. Naruto-"

The blonde boy stood at attention the moment he heard his name.

"-you very well know that even your Iruka-sensei is currently on an espionage mission near the northern border. Lee-"

The black-haired, thick-browed boy grew alert now.

"-I believe you also noticed that your Gai-sensei has been dispatched to the western locale of Honkuryuu to protect the daimyo during his town rounds. Hinata-san, Kiba, Shino-"

At that the three simultaneously listened more carefully.

"-I hope you all understand if all your parents have been away for some time now; they are currently off to train many of our jounin further on some advanced techniques. Ino, Chouji, Shikamaru, the same goes for your fathers as well. They have been most reliable in the past, and Konoha needs them yet again in this ever dire situation."

"_Ie, _you don't have to worry about it, Tsunade-sama," Ino tried to reassure the Godaime, "My dad does nothing else but bug me when he's home anyway…" _Oh… why do things have to be like this? I feel so… lonely right now… Otoosan, I hope you're safe… Even okaasan is already getting worried…_

On the outside, Ino looks okay, but the story is way different on the inside – not having his father around for so long a time now has left her spirits plummeting to an all-time low. If only she could have him around… or at least someone she could lean on at this very moment. With all that heaviness in her heart, she was unable to notice the worry that the drooping boy on the other side of the room tried to express, albeit a bit more inconspicuously. Chouji also felt sympathetic for Ino, so he decided to put away all the junk food he was munching on earlier. Even Sakura gave her a pat on the back; she knew.

"I'm glad to hear that," the Hokage replied. _That won't hide your feeling of sadness from me, Ino. I'm sorry about all this. However, please try to understand the situation everyone is in_.

"Though it may be of little consolation to the rest of you," Tsunade said, turning to the entire group again, "I just want to let you all know that Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai-sensei are still in Konoha, though they have been instructed to work double-time as jounin leaders to the new genin teams and as constant village security jounins for the time being. This is only a temporary arrangement, and we hopefully could put things back to normal soon… REALLY soon. If this stays any longer, we could run out of jounins in case of emergencies…"

The atmosphere in the room was then turning bleak… it seems that the little 'history' lesson that the Godaime had dished out for the bunch just crushed whatever morale they had left right from the beginning.

"Well, that little _lively_ lecture only sapped the life out of this party, _ne_? Tsk tsk tsk. Is this any way to begin a mission?"

Everyone looked up. It was Shikamaru. Tsunade-sama was surprised. Under normal circumstances, she would get annoyed and shut him up. However, perceiving that this genius had something working up there in that head of his, she grinned.

"Well," the jounin spoke up again, "dwelling on anything other than issues relevant to the mission at hand will only keep these clueless bums ever baffled… especially that _gaki_ over there," pointing to the unusually silent and serious blonde boy, then turning his head the other way.

At this remark, Naruto began yelling. "Who you calling a _gaki_, huh? Just because you're a jounin does NOT mean you're way better than any one of us!" With that, Naruto decided to let Shikamaru have a piece of his own mind. With a simple wink, however, Shikamaru signaled Chouji to extend his foot just in time to trip Naruto, who in turn fell on his face. Poor Naruto was totally embarrassed. Everyone laughed at his utter stupidity. Even the previously cheerless Ino gave out a slight chuckle. The jounin who started it all simply smiled at the sight of her smile. Once more, Tsunade was impressed by Shikamaru's turnaround scheme.

"Okay," the Hokage intervened after a few moments of laughter (and humiliation on Naruto's part), "now that everyone is in a better mood, I would like to assign your team assignments."

"_Neh!_" Hinata blurted quite aloud. Realizing what she did, she proceeded to speak a lot less rowdily this time, "uhm… _ano_… what I meant was… why are we going into separate teams? I thought this was a big mission?"

While everyone was a bit surprised with Hinata, they too were curious behind the team division.

"Well, I am going to make this a three-way mission… think of it as hitting three birds with one stone. Addressing the different needs of our nation, I am going to assign the twelve of you to four different tasks. Now, for the teams…"

Everyone paid attention now… they were more committed and all felt as if they could die for their village and the people. Shikamaru, thinking that this action would be no walk in the park, already began thinking of some preparations for the mission.

"Haruno Sakura, Hyuuga Hinata, Aburame Shino… you are to serve as the medical team that shall make rounds all throughout the country. You shall still stay in Konoha when there are no outstanding medical requests, but you will be dispatched when word arrives of such emergency in any of our towns."

"_Hai!_ We shall do our best!" Sakura felt enthusiastic.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Hyuuga Neji, Tenten, you are going to be on tactical duty just like Inuzuka Kiba, Rock Lee, and Uzumaki Naruto. Sasuke's team shall take charge of the western border while Kiba's team is in charge of the northern border."

'_Finally, I get to be away from that show-off Uchiha…' _was what ran inside Naruto's mind._ …but why do I have to be stuck with this stinkin' man-beast and thick-brows? Ugh… _Naruto doesn't seem to like the arrangement, but he saw that this was better than facing the scorn of the Godaime. Kiba seems to share the same sentiment anyhow.

"Well, last but not least… Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, Akimichi Chouji, being the team best fit for espionage, you are going to find more about the recent little troubles near the southern border. Little is known about that area due to the unpredictable weather, but I believe there's more to that than merely weather… Shikamaru, being jounin and all, I expect nothing but success from your end, understood?" The Hokage gave her a stern look.

"Sure… whatever…" _Boy, why does she want to emphasize that? Hmph… it's not like I wanted to become a jounin in the first place… Why do things have to be _"…troublesome," Shikamaru unconsciously whispered to himself.

"What was that?" Tsunade gave him a more serious look in a _give-me-any-more-smart-aleck-answers-and-you'll-regret-having-ever-lived_ kind of way.

"Nothing… nothing…" the young jounin replied, trying to fend off her irritation. "So, when do we depart?"

"Well, I do not want to rush you, but much of the country could not stand much abuse any longer… I wish to dispatch you as soon as possible – tonight at the most."

"Tsunade-sama," Shikamaru cut in with a very serious look on his face, "could we commence this mission tomorrow instead? I think each one of us here has some business we would like to finish before we leave, _ne, minna?_" Everyone nodded in agreement, though Ino had raised her eyebrow upon Shikamaru's request – he was not the man to look so serious.

"Well, I take it that it is not out of your laziness, I hope. Since everyone here agrees, then you could leave first thing in the morning… This briefing is officially over." With that, everyone went their own separate ways.

Later on that night, on the rooftop of the Nara residence…

_Sigh… this sucks big time… of all the times, why does everything have to turn sour during my tender adolescent years? To think that I've dedicated my life to escaping all sorts of responsibility, and now I'm here, jounin and all, continuously slaving myself away with all sorts of things… how troublesome…_

Nara Shikamaru was plain restless tonight. He couldn't even get some decent forty winks… tomorrow's the big mission for crying out loud!

_What am I doing? I can't even get myself sleep sleep. Tch, there aren't even any clouds tonight to watch… Man, I didn't think things would turn this bitter. First was the Orochimaru incident, next was the Konoha invasion, and now, it's the instability of the Fire country… My years are slowly being lost to such troublesome things…_

He knew that the mission was not the thing that bothered him tonight… it was the fact that during this mission, he could endanger…

_Ino… of all the girls in the world, why did it have to be you? Heaven must be way angry at me to make me, a laid back and lazy bum, so crazy about you, a bossy, bratty, and troublesome girl… If only you could see how much it pains me at times to see you sad… and how much it makes me feel better by you just being there… If you're not going to notice me, can't you at least spare me some trouble by getting out of my head?_

Suddenly, a different voice spoke.

'_You know this is more than just a matter of the head, little man… what you cannot comprehend with the brain, you must learn to give way for the heart…'_

Now Shikamaru was all the more confused.

_Well, how would you know? Ack… must be the hormones kicking in. I'm SO afraid of what my life would look like married to her… I'd be like my dad, while Ino would be like my mom, always going at my behind like some hag on a rampage… Woah! Rewind… Why am I even THINKING that? Hmph… that would REALLY be one scary scenario._

_At any rate, why do men even bother? They try to go out of their way to dress up and smell good and act all-too-cool just to win the heart of some girl he who would end up playing around with his heart. Girls are such cruel creatures too – I mean, they all chase some guy, and when the day comes that he rejects her, she thinks that it is all too okay to come crying to her best friend without even realizing how he would feel… Dammit, this is hard. I don't know what to think anymore!_

With that, the young jounin decided to take a short walk… but what a walk it was. The moment he realized where his feet had taken him, he was already outside the Yamanaka residence.

_Great. Just how exactly did I get here?_

"_Oy _Shikamaru!" It was an all-too familiar voice. "Couldn't get some sleep as well?" Shikamaru looked up. True enough, it was Ino – the girl she would not want to be with right now… or maybe… just the girl she was looking for…

"Hmph… I couldn't sleep, so I decided to take a walk by myself."

"Silly you," Ino softly exclaimed. The young jounin was now nervous about what he was expecting to hear next. _Please don't… I'm going to die inside if ever you decide… _"to take a walk with a very close friend could put your mind at ease. I'll be down in just a minute," Ino cheerfully continued.

_Man, this is going to be the end of me! Think Shikamaru, think! Just pop her some excuse so that you could get back home! _This time however, his intellect failed him. He simply froze at that spot, unable to respond. It took only a short while before Ino had jumped down from her window… _I didn't know she looked cute in her evening robe…_ (A/N: think pajamas with a warm cotton overcoat)Shikamaru slapped himself back to reality when he felt a blush creep up his cheeks.

"_Ne _Ino, are you sure you should be doing this? Your parents might get worried…" _What am I saying? She might suspect something._

"Oh, so you get worried about other people now, eh Shika?" _That was certainly unexpected of him…_

_Darn. I thought so._ "Hmph, being a jounin means you need to look out for your comrades… especially during REALLY dangerous missions. Besides, I'm your friend. Is there anything wrong about that?" Shikamaru simply retorted. _I hope I'm more than just a friend for you though, Ino._

Again, there was silence. The only sounds you could hear that night was the soothing music of the crickets humming away to the full moon in the clear night sky. There was nothing but awkwardness for our young lad.

"_Ano_… Shika-kun…"

_Did I hear right? Did she call me… Shika-kun?_

"What is it," Shikamaru asked, feigning disinterest.

"Do you think I should give up on Sasuke-kun?"

_What kind of question is that? Why is she asking ME?_

"Shika-kun? _Oy!_"

"Do you REALLY want me to answer that question," Shikamaru asked in reply with slight hints of jealousy and anger in his tone. _Sheesh. Everyone knows I suck at these things… I didn't think I disliked Sasuke that much, though… Man, women are so troublesome…_

"…"

Now Ino was getting more distressed with each passing moment. _I guess any girl should not really bother asking Shika-kun… he is not reliable at all when it comes to matters of the heart…_

Shikamaru noticed that she was getting all depressed again. _Man I can't stand it when she gets all too sad… but I also can't stand it when she's screaming at the top of her lungs when she's all too happy either. Sheesh._

"_Ne_, Ino… I'm sorry about what I just said… I think I better escort you back home now. It's really getting late."

"Alright," Ino replied in resignation. "But promise me one thing, Shika-kun…"

"What?"

"…"

"What?"

"Whatever you do, make sure you take good care of yourself… I can't stand my friends getting hurt and all… it makes me feel helpless. I hope you would always be safe. You're the only close friend I could confidently come to when I have problems. So please… do take care of yourself, please?"

_Friend, huh… that surely stung…_ Shikamaru was silent.

"_Ne_,Shika-kun! Promise me!"

"Okay, okay… you don't have to be so worked up… I promise I will, no matter what."

With that, a smile crept up Ino's face. _I feel so glad to hear that._

The rest of the walk was rather quiet. Finally, they reached the Yamanaka residence.

"Well, I better get back to bed and get some shut-eye. Have a good night's sleep, Shi-"

"-Wait," Shikamaru hastily blurted out. "_Eto… _Before you go back in… I'd like to give you this…" The boy took something from his pocket and handed something to her.

"What's this?" Ino saw it was a white envelope. "A letter? What's this all about Shika?"

"Ino… I, uhm, am not used to… openly saying what I feel, so… _ano_… I thought you should read that instead." Ino gave him a quizzical look. She saw that Shikamaru was slightly blushing, but suddenly grew a bit sad.

Before she could say anything back, the young jounin uttered, "Well, I better get back now; my mom becomes such a hag whenever she finds out that I have sneaked outside this late again. See ya around Ino…" And with that, Shikamaru gave her a weak smile and disappeared out of sight the way a ninja would.

"What in the world could this mean? What couldn't he say to me?" Ino decided to read what's on the letter before she turned in for the night.

* * *

A/N: Now it gets longer, doesn't it? Curious about the letter? Hehe… you'll find out soon enough. Anyway, it took this long because I originally planned to separate the briefing and the conversation into two separate chapters, but decided that it would be troublesome to make the story any longer (chapter-wise). Please review! _Arigato gozaimasu!_


	4. Chapter 3 : Tell Me

Ohayo!

I do NOT own Naruto, blah blah blah... Shikamaru's still too cool to be just a support character. If Masashi-san does not want that, let me make him!

_Ano… t_here's just that point in paired stories where you can't avoid making the characters a bit… OOC. If ever this does not turn out fine for you, please don't flame me. winks

By the way, thanks to those who have been reviewing my work lately, most especially to **moonlightpath** who has been reviewing all three of my previous chapters thus far. I hope that everyone could support my story by giving me their insights, i.e. reviews. Once again, _arigato gozaimasu_!

Still reading? Well, you have been warned! grins devilishly

I hope you enjoy guys! Reviews would surely be appreciated!

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Three : Tell Me_

Early morning at the Yamanaka residence…

"Ino… Ino!"

A woman in her forties was already bellowing at the top of her lungs, calling for her daughter who was still unusually asleep in her room.

"Ino, I better find you up from your bed when I get up there or else you're going to get it from me! Did you hear me young lady!"

At the very instant that this woman used the phrase 'young lady' to call her, Ino immediately sat up from her bed but yelled back a bit drowsily, "Okay, okay, _oka-asan_, I'm up… I'm up…" She gave out a long yawn. It seems that she had a good night's sleep.

"Ino honey," her dad softly called as he peered through his daughter's door, "you better get up quick… Today's your big mission, _ne_?"

Having remembered that the Hokage had assigned Shikamaru and the rest of the team – herself included, of course – to perform different urgent tasks in different parts of the country and to leave that very morning, she got out of bed right away and politely told his dad to close her door as she headed for the bathroom. While she was going to be late for some last instructions to be given by Shikamaru, a girl – a physically maturing girl, to be more precise – sure couldn't afford to look like a wretch, now could she?

Rushing towards the gate, Ino observed that everyone was already there… _This does not look good… Tsunade-sama gave us quite the important B-rank task yesterday; being late surely is NO way to start the mission…_

"Well, look at who finally decided to show up…" Shikamaru wanted to give Ino a serious warning considering that they are going on important missions, but opted to cushion the reprimand with a bit of sarcasm . "Got off the wrong side of the bed today, ne Yamanaka Ino? I hope you didn't forget your beauty kit?" _Sheesh, doesn't she know how significant this mission is? Troublesome woman… Seriously, if that Ino is only going to be such a pain in the neck, I swear I'll leave her behind…_

"_Gomenasai, minna-san_," Ino apologized to everyone, saying so with a bit of sweetness in her tone. Inside her head Ino thought that she better ignore Shikamaru's rather snide remarks; now would not be the appropriate time to start off some jokes.

"Now, as I was saying," Shikamaru continued as he decided not to delay the mission any further, "we all very well know how crucial our operations are. Tsunade-sama expects that we give it our best, so please… could you all spare us both a headache? This mission is already troublesome as it is…"

"_Hai, hai…_" Everyone was fidgety today; one could suppose that they would want to get things over with just as badly as Shikamaru would.

"Okay, now before we all leave, I would like to leave each team this…" Shikamaru put out some special scrolls from his vest and handed one to each of the shinobi teams present.

"You have there in your hands special signal scrolls – they're all treated with some of my special jutsu." Everyone did not expect this, though they were not too surprised; Shikamaru was a brilliant shinobi – he could develop new things as quickly as he could make five steps ahead in _go_.

"Some of you are already familiar with Kakashi-san's tracking dog scroll jutsu, so think of those as my special scrolls – each one of those could summon a shadow messenger that allows you to relay important messages back to the Hokage at only the quarter of the time a normal ninja would normally take. Whenever a hostile ninja tries disrupt the jutsu, the message is first passed to a spawned duplicate of the shadow messenger before it gets destroyed – that way, the message is sure to get to the Hokage safely. Having said that therefore," Shikamaru cautioned them, "it is important that you use them ONLY when necessary. It uses up a lot of the user's jutsu…" Everyone understood, perhaps with the exception of Naruto who was simply left to his confusion.

"Now that we're all clear, let's move out… before that Godaime finds us here and comes yelling…" Each of the teams then headed out in different directions.

Not too far off from their village yet, Shikamaru couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable… doing missions with that troublesome girl… only this time, with him bearing the weight of looking after his teammates' safety! _Hmmm… I wonder what she thinks of that letter I gave her… I can't believe I was able to do that at the very least, however… I just don't see myself as that mushy, affectionate type… Bleaaaugh… Just thinking that gives me the chills. Still, I wonder how she feels… I wonder if she feels the same way… Oh well, now that I've gotten THAT out of my chest, I feel confident about proceeding with the mission. _Shikamaru managed to give Ino a side glance when Ino looked back at him. With blood rushing up his cheeks, the young jounin looked the other way and decided to stay focused on the mission.

_What's with the glances? Well, it's not like him to do that and not say anything at all, although I think he only has more sarcastic things to say anyway. Hmm… could it have something to do with that-_ At that moment, she remembered the letter she received last night…

**_Flashback _**

"Well, I better get back to bed and get some shut-eye. Have a good night's sleep, Shi-"

"-Wait," Shikamaru hastily blurted out. "_Eto… _before you go back in… I'd like to give you this…" The boy took something from his pocket and handed something to her.

"What's this?" Ino saw it was a white envelope. "A letter? What's this all about Shika?"

"Ino… I, uhm, am not used to… openly saying what I feel, so… _ano_… I thought you should read that instead." Ino gave him a quizzical look. She saw that Shikamaru was slightly blushing, but suddenly grew a bit sad.

Before she could say anything back, the young jounin uttered, "Well, I better get back now; my mom becomes such a hag whenever she finds out that I have sneaked outside this late again. See ya around Ino…" And with that, Shikamaru gave her a weak smile and disappeared out of sight the way a ninja would.

_**End of Flashback **_

_I forgot to read the letter! No wonder he was looking at me, that bashful guy… Well, if he has nothing to hide, then I suppose there's no harm in asking him about it sometime later instead… Having said that, it just isn't Shika's style to write letters… he doesn't even know how to write one in the first place! Shika-no baka…_

The rest of the short journey to the southern lands was spent in silence and utmost assiduousness…

Deep in the southern forests of the Fire country nearly a week later…

Three leaf nins stealthily landed on tree branches some twenty feet off the ground. The black-haired leader was giving hand signals to his two other comrades, instructing them to scout the forest area in front of them within a hundred-meter radius and then to report back after a short while.

_Something's not right… The animals in this area have been quite restless lately. From what I could tell, the birds have fled over the valley behind us to the forests further into the heart of the Fire country. I need to find more information about this area; there must be some more unexplored regions here that need further investigation… Something's DEFINITELY not right…_

"Area sweep finished," a slightly panting Ino reported back. "Aside from what we have been observing for the past few days already, there's simply nothing new or out of the ordinary."

"From my end," Chouji said as he appeared just beside the blonde girl, "this site is fit for camping out for the rest of the day. There's a stream nearby, but there are no vantage points around here for enemies to take us by surprise."

"Good work, both of you," Shikamaru nodded affirmatively. "Chouji, please set us a camp here, and then the both of you could do whatever after that – you two deserve some rest; I'll be off to do some scouting of my own."

"Why don't I come with you, then… I don't think I could be of any use here, _ne_ Chouji?" Ino saw this as her chance to finally ask Shikamaru about the letter, so she gave Chouji that _disagree-with-me-and-you're-going-to-regret-it-later_ look. As expected, Chouji understood and simply nodded, not wanting to make Shikamaru grow suspicious of anything.

"Hmph, whatever… just be quiet," Shikamaru simply answered back.

The two spent the time setting off from one region of the forest to another, making sure that they stayed in the shadows as they went. Ino knew that Shikamaru was seriously concentrating on the reconnaissance right now, so she figured that compromising their presence would also compromise their objectives… which, in turn, would most likely make her Shikamaru's number one liability – and Ino hated knowing that she's just a burden to the people around her.

"Okay Ino," Shikamaru said after exploring the last of the forest sections, "my inspection is finished now… let's get back to camp. _Ano… _I'm sure you must already be tired by now any way."

_There he goes again. Shikamaru's being… nice to me lately. I wonder what's on his mind already!_

"_Ne_ Shika…"

_Now what? Is she tired from all that running around or not? Man, I couldn't wait to get back to the camp to get me some prime time cloud-watching._

"…_ano…_ about that letter…"

Shikamaru gulped hard. _Darn… this is NOT the time to be talking about that stuff. What's with this girl? Doesn't she know that letters like those are never to be talked about? Well, that's so stupid of me; I should've known I had it coming._

"_Mendou'kse_," Shikamaru muttered under his breath.

"… what was it that you wanted to tell me? Just so you'd know… I haven't read it yet…"

_Well that explains everything… But… I thought I already told her I'm not any good in discussing those things? Why can't she get a clue? Hasn't she noticed by now? Troublesome girl…_

"_Oy_ Shika-kun…" Ino began to give Shikamaru a quite clueless look. "Come on, I wouldn't ask you about it if I didn't feel it was important. Also, it's just SO unlike you to write a letter to me when you very well know that I live just a few blocks away. We're best friends, the three of us – you, Chouji and me. What could a jounin find so hard to say?"

Shikamaru was staring at the ground all the while that Ino was talking to him. He couldn't bear to see her looking back at him… He felt that her gaze simply pierces his soul each and every time he made eye contact with her.

"You're quite a man of few words, _ne _Shika-_kun_?" Ino began to tease Shikamaru now… while she could sense that Shikamaru was very serious, she couldn't help but feel a bit delighted whenever she played around with him.

A few more moments came… Shikamaru was slowly getting unnerved by Ino's insistence…

"Why are you always like this, Ino?"

Ino was a bit startled by the question. "Always like 'this'? I don't think I understand what you mean…"

Shikamaru sighed. Somehow, the young jounin knew that the Yamanaka Ino that has always been with him all these years was, and still is, quite the dense little girl.

"Why do you play around with me?" _Why do you continue to play these foolish little games with me… for crying out loud Ino, we're no longer kids! _"Don't you know how uncomfortable it is for me when you come sobbing like crazy every time some insignificant thing troubles you? 'Shika-kun this, Shika-kun that'… I tell you, I just HATE it when you do that all the time! Why won't you stop bugging me! You're such a troublesome woman, Ino _no baka_!"

Shikamaru then just realized that he had gone too far… his inner jealousy for that Uchiha had suddenly surfaced, but somehow transformed into an argument that was too general that Ino could mistake it for-

"I-is… is that s-so…" Ino was on the verge of tears. Shikamaru was feeling more guilty by the minute.

_I knew it; Nara Shikamaru, you have gone too far! What's going on with you? Has that jealousy finally come to destroy you? to destroy your friendship? to destroy whatever possible relationship that could even possibly blossom between the two of you? No Shikamaru, now you have NO right to think that… you have just destroyed everything…_

"Well," Ino tried to unaffectedly and gracefully say as she turned the other way, "I g-guess you c-could expect not to s-see me anyt-time soon…" With tears profusely flowing down her cheeks, the hurt kunoichi jumped off, headed to someplace God-knows-where.

As she was wildly skirting the branches, she was thinking whatever just took place. Ultimately, she was confused – having no idea what Shikamaru meant by 'playing around with him' and the rest that he implied. _Was that the Nara Shikamaru I knew? THE Nara Shikamaru I had known since we were kids? THE Nara Shikamaru that I had gotten to understand better during the chuunin exam and our other missions? Was that guy in front of me really THE Nara Shikamaru from before? Do I even know the true Nara Shikamaru? I…I… I don't know what to think anymore! What did I do! Oh, God, please give me a clue! I just… I just… can't accept what had just happened!_

Meanwhile, it was quite a while before everything began to register in Shikamaru's mind. Since Ino left, he was still standing on the same spot where he heartlessly hurt Ino's feelings… the feelings of the one he admired… the one he just began to love.

_Shikamaru, you are such an idiot._

'_Well, you know you've dealt some damage… aren't you going to do anything about it?'_

_What! It's over now… I just blew it… You know what happened!_

'_What are you saying? You know very well that Ino is not the type of girl to stay angry or even want to stay angry with her friends… They say that friendship creates bonds that are stronger than any tangible thing on earth – not even the heavens could break it in an instant…"_

_That's just it… By having shocked her like hell, I… fear that I just destroyed… our years of friendship… and I didn't even try that hard to keep it strong in the first place… it was all her…_

'_But Shika-san… is she just a friend to you? Is Yamanaka Ino a MERE friend for you?'_

…

'_Now look… that girl may be the most troublesome person you have ever met in your entire life… but if she means the WORLD to you, should it even matter?'_

…

'_Taking a certain action and being responsible about it – that is what being a man is all about. You know you have to set things straight, Shikamaru…You know what you've got to do…'_

_You know what… you're right…_

'_Well, you know what to do… Hurry up before that girl gets herself into any trouble… you can't afford to lose her now, can you? Well, at least not before you get to apologize to her, _ne

_Of course not! Wait for me, Ino-chan… even if I have to do all the work in the world just to get along with you once again… even if I have to give up my life just to see you smile again… I need to set things straight… Please wait for me Ino-chan…_

With that, Shikamaru sped back towards their camp, hoping to find that girl he highly respects… the girl he loves… the girl worth giving his life up for…

* * *

A/N: Whew… writing intimate conversations are pretty harder than I originally thought… I had a writer's block a bit way back, and it really took me a while before I came up with what I felt was the most appropriate one. Anyway, I hope this doesn't happen all too often. Oo

This chapter is actually the first part of a longer chapter, but since this is quite different in some sense, I decided to split them into two. Therefore, you might expect to find something interesting coming up. Stick around for the next chapter!

Please review! _Arigato gozaimasu!_


	5. Chapter 4 : Pangs of Pain

Hello!

Sorry if my updates are getting less frequent as of late. My college life is getting more hectic now that I'm in my thesis year. For all that I realize, I just witnessed how thesis has its ways of making you grow old… fast. Oo

Oh, by the way, I'm having a really LONG philosophy exam sometime around next week, so please don't expect me to update much until then. Maybe I could spare another chapter for you guys by the end of this week, but I want to let you know that I would need the rest of next week to prepare… All I can say is that philosophy certainly needs a LOT of time to get used to… thinking and all… I wonder if our lazy hero had philosophy…

Everyone, enjoy! I hope you spread the word around, too.

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Four : Pangs of Pain_

Back at the camp…

For a while now, Ino had returned to the camp that Chouji set up, although she was not speaking at all, keeping still and silent, sitting with her back against a tree. Chouji had greeted her when she got back but she didn't give him a reply. He could sense that something happened sometime past, but he figured that it had something to do with their jounin leader.

"_Ne_, Ino," a concerned and sympathetic Chouji was trying to comfort his blonde friend. "Please eat some of this… you're going to lose your stamina if you don't… Shikamaru says we still have some days to go – a few weeks at the worst." Chouji was trying to hand Ino some of the food he cooked on a small pot over the warm fire, but she simply kept on ignoring him, staring into the glow of the campfire.

_I bet it had something to do with Shikamaru. I don't know what happened, but if things don't get any better soon, this mission would be compromised. I don't think that Shikamaru could do this to Ino, but I can't ignore the fact that Ino's extremely sad right now for some reason. I hope things work out soon…_

"Chouji… "

Ino finally broke her silence. Chouji was taken aback by her call.

"…For how long have the three of us – you, Shikamaru, and I – been friends now?"

Chouji sensed that she was going to tell him something important… and that she needs someone to talk to. Usually, she talks with this kind of tone with Shikamaru, but given that she is talking to him this time, he figured out that something DID happen between his two team mates.

"Since we were kids, Ino. I think we all first met when our fathers decided to introduce us to one another, being best friends on their missions and all…"

"Oh…"

Ino fell into silence once more. Chouji, wanting to make her feel better, decided to take this chance to share some cheerful past memories.

"Ino," Chouji began with a cheerful smile on his face, "do you remember the day our dads all brought us to the open fields for our first informal jutsu bouts?" Yes, that was the day when Shikato, Inoshi and Chomaru all decided to show off their children to each other and brag about who had the best offspring among the three of them. "During that mock fight, I tried to make myself roll into a ball, but only managed to get into the shape of an egg! When I tried to attack Shikamaru, I slowed down pretty quick and stopped just before I even reached him – and he was only lying down on the grass!"

Ino tried to smile at the memory but only managed to give a slight grin. When Chouji saw the progress he made, he continued.

"I was too tired to continue, using up too much calories, so you decided to have a go at Shikamaru. You tried to target him, but managed to hit me instead! You saw that it was a waste, so you tried to get back quick and try again – it was then that Shikato-san bellowed at his son to move before Shikamaru got caught by your mind transfer jutsu. So, he lazily got up and caught your unconscious body in his shadow jutsu – he made you walk to him, but ended up tripping yourself!" Chouji gave a hearty but friendly chuckle. "Well, if I remember correctly, you then opened your eyes to find the two of you sharing a ki-"

"-Shut up Chouji," Ino snapped at the memory. "I don't want to hear any more unpleasant memories with that _baka_!"

Chouji was stunned; it took some time before he realized his mistake. Ino realized as well that she shouldn't have yelled at him – Chouji was only trying to make her feel better.

"Ino, I'm sorry that-"

"-Chouji," Ino cut him short. "I'm the one who should be sorry… I'm sorry that I said that to you… _Gomen_, you were only trying to make me feel better… I guess… I just didn't know that I was needed… that someone was only going out of his way for me… that…" The rest of Ino's words were drowned in her hushed sobs.

Somewhat expectedly after quite some time, Shikamaru appeared on the scene.

_Whew. I'm relieved to find Ino here… I thought she would run away… Ino, you're really something. Even when you are all down, you do not forget your role – the mission…_

Seeing that Ino was still extremely cheerless from that previous incident, Shikamaru slowly walked up to her. He knew that he had to make things right, for he could not compromise their lasting friendship nor their mission.

"Ino, do you mind if I-"

The young jounin was cut short by a kunai that flew out of nowhere and grazed him on the right arm.

_Darn it… this is NOT the time… Ino, I guess my 'sorry' would just have to wait – please hold on until then…_

"Ino, Chouji, up on your feet! Spread out and identify the enemy!"

Though it was really unexpected, Ino and Chouji were forced to flee from the camp and scout from the bushes for the time being while Shikamaru was still coming up with a battle plan.

_Darn it… Where are they? Who are they? What are they up to? I guess I can't find anything useful to plan with unless I give them a chance to uncover their techniques…_

With that Shikamaru revealed himself and leaped from one tree branch to another to let his opponents catch a glimpse of him; he decided that it was best to know where their enemies are, how many of them were there, and of which village they were from. If this were any indication of a plot against the security of Konoha and its people, it was imperative that he find out a lot of information about them before reporting back to the Hokage. Their top priority, after all, was to get information and nothing more.

_Damn… troublesome guys! _A kunai had grazed him yet again, only this time it scratched him on his left leg. _Ugh… at this rate, I'm going to put Ino and Chouji in a lot of danger… and I can't apologize to Ino! Darn it! Focus Shikamaru… use that head of yours to get your team out of trouble!_

Meanwhile, Ino was discovered by one of the enemies. A shuriken just missed her over her left shoulder, and upon seeing her vulnerability, she jumped away from the spot and managed to see her enemy. She tried to make something out of the symbol on the guard that shinobi usually wore on their heads, but alas, she could not even have a glimpse of it, thanks to the darkness of the night.

Ino spotted her enemy and threw kunai with impeccable precision. The enemy, however, was just as good as she is, and fended off her attack with kunai of his own. Ino saw that ranged attacks would be useless from this point, so she opted for close combat… that way, not only would she overcome her enemy, but also even find out the symbol on the protector her enemy wore.

In the meantime, from another place a little afar from Ino, Chouji was trying to handle his own opponent. Powerful as he was, Chouji found himself a bit outmatched by his opponent who had a more muscular frame, with buffs simply bulging from his arms, torso and legs! Chouji had been attacking him head on with meat tank jutsu twice now, but his enemy simply deflected him with a swish of his arm. Right now, the formidable foe had picked up a boulder from beside him, and immediately unleashed his strength with a throw that came straight at Chouji. Fortunately, Chouji was able to duck in time to avoid the rock that merely breezed above him.

Chouji saw the predicament he was in. He could not afford to handle this guy alone… he needed help – and fast.

'_Shikamaru, you better think up of something soon, or else you're going to regret it!' _came rushing into Ino and Chouji's heads.

It did take quite a while for Shikamaru to come up with a plan. Fortunately, the enemy did not find him… or at least, that was what he thought. With a few hand seals, the young jounin managed to unleash a shadow search jutsu. Though he could not see the enemy himself, he decided that his shadows could wander off searching for the enemy, only this time he did not need to maintain contact with the shadows. Difficult as it may seem, Shikamaru managed to devise this new jutsu only five months into becoming a chuunin, seeing the need to manipulate things from a distance and freeing himself of the trouble of revealing his location while extending his shadow towards the enemy.

It was only a measly three minutes before he had sent his shadow scouts when two peculiar shinobi had walked into the open, both seemingly controlled by the shadow scouts. Upon coming back to the camp, Ino and Chouji gave the clueless Shikamaru a glare.

"It was about time," Chouji exclaimed. "One more moment and I could've been beaten to a pulp by that guy!"

"What the heck took you so long," a partly infuriated and partly exhausted Ino asked. "I swear Shikamaru, you're going to be the end of us… I hope you won't get us into such a troublesome situation ever again!"

"_Yare yare_," Shikamaru sighed in resignation. Somehow, he felt better at seeing the lively Ino, yelling at him and all. However, he turned again to his two captives, paying attention to some other possible danger still lurking in the shadows.

"Just the two of you here?"

The two shinobi in front of them were silent and defiant… Shikamaru has never killed anyone for information before, and he did not intend to start now. Sure he was a shinobi and all, but having to kill one and get haunted by nightmares of that being done to his fellow friends was just too… troublesome.

"I think that this is the appropriate time for introductions and I think that you better start talking soon, else our friends the kunai shall do the talking for you…"

A few moments again passed, and still the enemy did not bother to make a sound. Shikamaru still felt unsafe given the circumstances that night, and he did not want to wait for more trouble to unfold, so he decided to have a go at one of the opponents' throat.

"Shikamaru, STOP! You don't have to do this!" Ino stopped Shikamaru from executing the enemy. Somehow, Shikamaru felt really thankful she did that. The two captives, on the other hand, seemed to be surprised by the statement.

"_Ano_…" One enemy shinobi finally said out of the blue. "Are you Nara Shikamaru, THE genius tactician of the Leaf?"

The three leaf nins suddenly grew suspicious of their captives.

"And what is it to you if he were," Chouji asked to intimidate them. He himself was getting anxious about who these people were.

"Well well well… I guess we don't have to look any further…" With that, the two nins sneered. One of them swung his body sideways against the grip of the scout shadow, flinging a sparkling crystal dangling around some cord around his neck. The crystal, after having reflected off some light from the brightly glowing moon above, shone on the two shadow scouts and made them dissipate into oblivion.

Without much fuss, the enemy shinobi immediately retreated into the shadows. The leaf nins, on the other hand, were not quick enough to restrain their captives, and decided to withdraw to the shadows as a group to rethink a new strategy. Shikamaru immediately racked his brains for something, while Ino and Chouji stood guard, ever alert at more impending peril.

_Argh, what the heck is this? Is this some sort of jutsu I've never known of? They don't look like assassins from the hidden Sand or Sound villages – I don't think they are even from any of the known hidden villages at all! Troublesome… I need to think of something… and fast!_

"It seems that they have some other trick up their sleeves. While I'm still not sure, I think they have some hidden techniques related to that crystal – you saw how it dissipated my jutsu… They must have let themselves get caught on purpose to make us fall right into their trap!"

"I don't think so," Ino interjected. "If that were the case, why were they surprised to know who you are?" Then turning to Chouji, Ino said, "Chouji, the next time someone identifies any one of us, just keep your mouth shut, please?" Ino did not want to sound angry, but Chouji took it as it is and nodded apologetically just the same.

_It was you who said my name in the first place Ino… tch… troublesome girl._

"What do we do then," asked the husky boy.

"Remember what we had for training a few months back? It's time to put _that_ into play…"

"What?" The two exclaimed in unison; they knew what it entailed, so both did not expect that. "Are you crazy? It's not going to get us into any better position, considering that it is a big burden on your part – one mistake and you may end up… losing your life!"

"I know that! Given the circumstances however, we know little of their skills. Believe me, when information available is way less than needed to lay out a proper plan, sometimes the best way out is to involve yourself in risky means to get the most information possible, despite how troublesome it may sound. Quite stupid, yes, but unless you two have any better ideas, I'd like to hear them out." As usual, Shikamaru's logic is simply astounding. "And besides," he reassured the two, "the top priority of this mission is to-"

"-get as much useful information as possible," the three mumbled in unison.

"It's just that…" Ino stammered, "you may not get out of it alive… given the fact that they've pounded us to a moderate extent already. I don't think you might be able to handle the others once they decide to step into the scene." Ino was sincere with her words

"Plus," Ino continued, "you still have to tell me what's with the letter…" With that, Shikamaru flinched at the memory of THAT thing, Ino wore a little sly smile on her face, and Chouji slowly understood more about what was going on in between his friends. After that short awkward moment, Shikamaru grew serious yet again, resolute on executing a dangerous technique, while the two simply nodded in agreement.

"There you are!" As if on cue, one enemy appeared from high up in the trees, and he intended to give the three a smashing dive. It was the same guy that Chouji had encountered earlier.

"Now!" Shikamaru gathered his chakra, staying on the ground right below the enemy shinobi. Ino and Chouji, on the other hand, have gone upwards, bouncing off nearby trees. Their other enemy was still out of sight as far as they could tell, and this brave one was already a third of the way down his dive. While Shikamaru looked up to begin to strike, the plummeting shinobi's crystal shone as if power had flowed from it into its wearer.

"_Gekkouya no jutsu_!" Having empowered by the crystal, the shinobi mustered a gigantic arrow of light, aimed straight at his prey below.

_Moonlight arrow? What in the world is this? No hidden village ever harbors this technique as far as I could tell… and this certainly is not the Sound's or Sand's trademark power._ Not to be overwhelmed by the discovery, Shikamaru signaled his comrades to strike.

"_Kagekinbaku no jutsu_!" Ino and Chouji jumped to clash with the crystal-bearing shinobi, attacking him on both arms and paralyzing him with the shadow bind Shikamaru had extended them. This move immediately made the enemy unable to move his arms and fire his arrow. Having locked the shinobi and the jounin together, Ino and Chouji distanced themselves from the impending collision.

The enemy was trying his best to move his limbs and aim his arrow at Shikamaru, who, on the other hand, began to jump up towards him. The two shinobi glared at one another, anxious to beat the other before getting himself too deep into harm's way. The enemy released his arrow… Shikamaru unleashed a slash of his own…

"_Kagetenpu no jutsu!_" Shikamaru sliced through his enemy's frontal assault and continued to slash him right through his abdomen with his blade blazing with a black fire-like shadow through the night sky. That had killed his enemy alright, but slicing the enemy's chakra arrow caused it to explode as soon as he slashed through. The wake of the explosion had unfortunately caught up behind Shikamaru and forced him flying into the trees some distance away, unable to control his trajectory from lack of chakra – having to use that technique meant having to regain control his chakra only after quite a while.

Ino and Chouji, having seen the explosion, turned around to see their leader falling down into the boughs of the trees. Chouji decided that once they found their leader, he would fend off the other shinobi should they appear while Ino tended to Shikamaru's injuries. The two tried searching for the shadow nin, trailing where rustled tree branches were left by his fall. When they found him, he was trying his best to stand up, wounds and bruises all over his body, trying to fend off two other enemies which lied just in front of him; one was the shinobi Ino faced earlier, the other appeared to be their leader. Chouji was filled with awe however, knowing all too well that stares are the only thing Shikamaru could use to bluff the enemy right now, having lost control of his chakra.

"Stop right there… Ino, Chouji…" Shikamaru tried his best to yell at them into staying away, but exhaustion has a way of taking its toll on a shinobi…

"_Demo!_" Ino could not believe his eyes. Shikamaru was there, barely able to stand on his own and yet trying to protect his comrades… trying to protect her yet again! Ino could not stand it… she tried to come closer…

"I told you to stay there!" Ino was struck by the gravity in his voice. "Here-" Shikamaru threw her what appeared to be a crystal… the very crystal the enemy shinobi he just slashed was wearing. "Have this examined by the experts at the research lab! Leave, quickly!"

The two could not believe what they were hearing. The Shikamaru they knew was no martyr; they knew that acting for someone else's sake was merely… troublesome. They were shocked yet again for the umpteenth time that day… and indeed it was growing to be a longer day than they expected.

"We are NOT leaving without you," Chouji interjected, obviously not wanting to abandon his comrade… his best friend.

"_Bakayerou_! You do not know the extent of their techniques… The methods they had exhibited earlier simply amounts to 25 of the power they really possess… Please… run away now! Do NOT risk this mission! I'll… hate the both of you if you do…"

Chouji and Ino were unable to move from their spot. The enemy, seizing the opportunity to strike, attempted to incapacitate the two shinobi standing at the back of their target – they could not afford having any witnesses escape. As the two enemie nins leaped off into different directions, they swooped in for the kill from the opposite sides.

_Damn it, Ino, Chouji… Get away now! Escape! I could NOT keep them at bay forever! Mendou'kse!_

"You two," Shikamaru weakly yelled while jumping backward towards the spot where Ino and Chouji stood, "as your team commander… while it goes AGAINST my will…"

Before Shikamaru could finish his sentence, he managed to land directly in front of his comrades just in time to catch the kunai slashes the enemy managed to dish out at them. Team 10's world simply crumbled that moment… everything simply flowed in slow motion – seconds turned into minutes as Ino and Chouji saw their friend fall slowly… Surprisingly, Shikamaru was still conscious. Somehow, his stubbornness was keeping him alive for the moment.

"…FALL BACK – THAT'S AN ORDER!"

With tears in his eyes, Chouji snorted a "Yes sir!" back at his leader and friend now on the ground in front of him. Without further delay, Chouji grabbed a shaken Ino by the waist, carried her on his shoulder and sped off in the direction of Konoha.

"Tch. _Mendou'kse_…" Shikamaru tried to look one last time into the sky, but alas he was unable to see any cloud tonight. "Minimum casualties, huh? Ironic that it should be me…" Just before he fell unconscious, he tried to shift his gaze towardsd his retreating friends, but two blurry figures loomed standing in the way of his view, just preparing to deal the final blow. The young jounin closed his eyes in anticipation of what was to inevitably happen next…

A few kilometers away…

"Gyaaaaaaaaaaaah!"

Ino and Chouji were distressed by the awful cry they heard. Chouji put Ino down on the tree branch he was on.

The silence that followed was eerie. Chouji, unable to bear the sorrow himself, fell on his knees and began to cry. Ino broke down and cried tears like never before. A million thoughts came rushing to her mind all at once…

_Why! Shika-no baka! Why do you always try to act all so cool all the time? Why go so far for us – our friendship is not worth taking your life away! Why did you have to leave us like this? Don't you know we still have so much to do in our lives! What did you want to tell me that it took your lazy ass a letter to write? Why keep such stupid things from me you baka! I HATE YOU NARA SHIKAMARU!_

"Shikamaru-kun… _Nara Shikamaru no baka_, you promised me we'd do all sorts of things together until we grow old – you haven't even fulfilled your ultimate dream of having an ordinary married life yet! _Baka! Baka! Baka!_"

Ino poured out all her heart and soul on that last cry… she did not want to think about what had just happened, but she did hope that in some way, Nara Shikamaru was safe, waiting for her. Somehow, the latter idea did not seem likely at all to Ino… It was all too much for a girl of fifteen to bear…

Chouji had managed to muster all his strength and began to stand. "_Ano_ Ino… you do remember what Shikamaru told us to do should we encounter trouble, right? Though it may be a bit too late…"

Ino then remembered; Chouji was referring to the signal scroll that their fallen leader had given them before they set off. Ino took it out, laid it on the branch, recounted all the events including their unfortunate encounter, wrote them down on the scroll, and, with a few simple hand seals, unleashed the signal shadow. The blonde kunoichi, having no strength left to carry on, fell weak on her knees and sat down again without resistance.

Ino noticed the crystal that Shikamaru had thrown to her before. She looked at it, cursed it under her breath, and attempted to throw it far, far away, only to be stopped by Chouji grabbing her by the wrist.

"Ino," Chouji sympathetically called, "Shikamaru risked his life – protecting OUR lives and serving Konoha, to get this very important relic back to the village. Do you think Shikamaru would appreciate it if you threw it away?"

Ino slowly took in Chouji's words. _Ino-no baka, Shikamaru sacrificed himself to get that very vital piece and you dare to throw it, just like Chouji said? Think of Shikamaru… if you don't want to do it for the sake of the country, then do it… for Shikamaru's memory, at the very least…_

"Alright Chouji. Could you help me get up, then? I think I don't have any strength left to go the rest of the way…"

"Sure Ino… for Shikamaru… Let's promise to cherish his memory forever, okay?"

Ino and Chouji had not accepted Shikamaru as a mere memory yet… It was still hard for them to even think of one of his best friends dying. However, reality dictates otherwise…

"I promise, Chouji, that I will remember Shikamaru for the rest of my life… for he is… my hero…"

The cool air stung for our two leaf nins, bringing memories of pain of the team they would never again live to see… The Ino-Shika-Chou trio had just been broken…

* * *

A/N: Did this chapter crush some of your expectations/theories? Did you expect more of an emotional 'pain'? Well, tragic as it may seem, I do hope that it did not shock you even if I did try my best to cushion the drama. OOC? I hope not…

Crash course on **_freelancer2_**'s terms / Japanese translations:

_Gekkouya no jutsu_ – Moonlight Arrow technique

_Kagekinbaku no jutsu_ – Shadow Bind technique (somehow different from the series, so: Disclaimer : I did not take the idea away; I just made it related to the fight scene since it was quite cool to think about. )

_Kagetenpu no jutsu_ – Shadow Endowment technique – endows flaming shadow on weapons

Please correct me if the translations are inappropriate. (I only use online translators and ask some of my friends who speak a little Nihonggo.) _Gomenasai_!

By the way, this is NOT the end folks, alright? I just wanted to say this because you might end up not waiting for/expecting the next installments of the story, thinking that this is the abrupt end of it all.

Please review! _Arigato gozaimasu!_


	6. Chapter 5 : Words, Darkness, Clouds

Hello!

Anyway, I know I haven't updated in weeks (ten weeks as of press time); I guess I have my tons of projects, exams, and thesis to thank for that. After all that work, I finally have some time to update this, so I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter.

Everyone, enjoy! I hope you spread the word around, too.

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Five : Words, Darkness, Clouds_

At the Konoha Administrative Headquarters…

The waiting area leading to the debriefing room was way too crowded that day. In one side of the room stood fidgety chuunin, anxious to get their reports turned in as soon as possible. For the moment, jounin sat down on the room's armchairs, still jotting down some notes to complete their report. Needless to say, everyone was restless.

Ino and Chouji sat down on the couch across the window. Things felt uncomfortable with the number of older shinobi around them, and the two really did not want to get on anyone else's nerves right now.

"Reconnaissance Team Nara," Shizune suddenly called out from just outside the debriefing room door, "come inside and report." Apparently, Ino and Chouji were still deep in thought as Shizune's call snapped them back to reality.

With a sharp turn of her heel, Shizune headed back inside the room with Ino and Chouji in tow. While the two were grateful that they didn't have to spend an eternity in the waiting room, the rest of the shinobi who have been impatiently waiting for hours gave them such cold stares.

"Come in, come in," Tsunade said as the two chuunin entered her office. Over the past few days, the extra load of paperwork and tense political affairs had taken its toll on the Hokage. Even with her youth jutsu, she seemed to be having a hard time keeping her lively look as her face lacked the luster she had. "Report."

Ino, still a bit haunted by the painful experience, was a bit startled, unable to speak. She did not feel like speaking to anyone other than Chouji right now, and Chouji felt that he should take the lead in explaining things to the Godaime.

"Unfortunately, Hokage-sama," Chouji began, "we failed… We failed you, and we failed… Shikamaru. We lost him during the mission." Chouji took a deep breath. Right now, he knew that he had to stand for his team – Shikamaru's team. It was his utmost responsibility to look after Ino, for he knew that Shikamaru would keep her from trouble at all costs. Silence followed.

"Well," Tsunade said, "I thought that Nara kid was much tougher than that… I didn't expect-"

Ino and Chouji shot her a piercing glare. Sure, she was the Hokage, but the two would not let anyone make fun of their friend – not even the most powerful ninja in the village. "Hey hey, I was just trying to lighten up the mood here, no offense meant… _Gomen_…"

The two shinobi slowly stared away at the floor. Apparently, Tsunade's witty remarks won't get their discussion anywhere. "I'm sorry… I really am. He was one of our best shinobi here, and I don't even think that anyone could even match his intellect. However, I think he knew that along our line of work comes the corresponding danger. You guys, being chuunin yourselves, should know that being shinobi of the Leaf means looking out for everyone's welfare – even at the cost of your own lives."

"Yes, but…" Ino could not find the words to say… Somehow, no matter how much spirited a teaser she was, she always got caught up in the words when she felt so down. "Tsunade-sama, Shikamaru is only fifteen – WAS only fifteen. At that very young age, he had already become a jounin, something that happens only to such a talented few – and he did not even WANT to be one in the first place… Sure he was a laid-back guy, but for the years we've been friends, I knew he had so much potential in life – he just did not want to even try working hard because people might expect so much of him. And having promoted him to jounin costed so much – his family, his friends, his dreams, his clouds…" Ino gave a weak smile as she trailed off with that last phrase. "…and now, even his life."

"I am sorry to hear that," Tsunade sympathized. There was silence yet again.

"_Ano_… Tsunade-sama," Chouji decided to speak up again, remembering the crystal they managed to attain. "While we were not able to get much information about our enemies during the fight, Shikamaru managed to snatch this-"

Chouji pulled the necklace from his pocket and handed it over to the curious Hokage. The Godaime began to examine it closely as she apparently did not recognize it.

"Hmmm… I haven't seen this one before… and I don't have any idea where we could find one like it. I suppose there is much more to this…"

"Hokage-sama," Ino stood up, "I wish to keep that crystal with me. I would promise to bring it to the research lab when needed, so please allow me to keep it… It's… important to me…"

The Hokage was stunned, to say the least; she was not expecting this from the Yamanaka. Nevertheless, Tsunade knew Ino had her reasons and so granted her request. The Hokage had a lot of work to do, so after the two had finished their report, she told them to leave. After all, a lot of impatient nin were still outside, waiting for their turn to make their report.

Ino and Chouji finally stepped out of the Administrative building. Ino was aimlessly walking around the village, and Chouji decided to go with her wherever she went, just to keep her company.

"_Ne_ Chouji," Ino softly called out, "I don't think we have heard news from our other friends lately, haven't we?"

"No, Ino. I've only heard that some of our friends have returned from clashes with the enemy. Do you want to check out the hospital and see if anyone needs a visit?"

"Sure. I just hope no one's in really bad shape…"

That afternoon, they headed straight for the hospital. Once they arrived, Chouji approached the nurse-attendant for news of friends they could visit. True enough, some of them were recovering – Lee, Neji, Shino, and Kiba were recovering for three days now from the conflicts they had a few days back. Ino decided to visit Shino's room – she figured that Sakura was staying with him since they are now on the same team.

"Chouji, I'd like to visit Sakura right now. You could visit the others, I wouldn't mind…"

Chouji was almost surprised by Ino's words. _I guess she needs a girl to talk to._ "Oh… okay. But are you sure you'd be okay?"

"Yeah."

"Alright. I'll be with Kiba's team if you need me."

After that, the two parted ways. Ino was thankful for Chouji's company, but right now, she felt that she should be sharing her problems with a close kunoichi… and Sakura was the right person for the job.

Upon entering the room, Ino looked around to see who were there. On the comfortable bed lied Shino, wrapped with bandages all over his chest and torso, while Sakura sat on one side of the bed and Hinata stayed on the other, sleeping against Shino's left side.

"Hello there, Ino-pig! Come in," came Sakura's warm but soft greeting. "I didn't expect you to be back here so soon. Sit here with me, but do keep it quiet – Shino still needs his rest and Hinata hasn't slept much since Shino was operated."

"At least someone's still in one piece, Big Forehead!"

"Well, I'm pretty glad you dropped by," Sakura happily but quietly admitted, "It's sort of getting depressing around here. I can't say that the medical missions are a mere walk in the park."

"Really? Why don't you tell me about it?"

"Well, about five days ago, we were visiting one of the smaller farming villages a few kilometers to the east. When we received an urgent dispatch call for us to aid the conflict-plagued villages much to the north of Konoha, we immediately wrapped up the last of the patients in the eastern village and headed to the north as quickly as we could. Unfortunately on the way, we clashed with shinobi from the Hidden Sound. Hinata was doing quite well on her own, I'd say, but much of the save was all thanks to Shino. The bugs still creep me out personally, but I think I'm getting used to it little by little."

"Well, aren't those kinds of guys the same? When you think you know them enough, they just surprise you with something else."

"Speaking of which," Sakura began, "where's Shikamaru? and Chouji?"

Ino once again remembered the pain. She flinched at the mention of the shadow jounin's name, and her wearied look failed to hide her own sadness.

"Ino…"

"Chouji? He's fine…"

"Ino…"

Tears welled down the blonde's cheeks once again. "Shikamaru? He's…"

"I'm so sorry… You don't have to say it… I am really sorry to hear that Ino…" Sakura was surprised, but she knew Ino needed someone now more than ever._Oh Ino…_

"Sakura… You don't know how much it hurts! One thing he's there, the next he's…" Ino finally gave in and cried her heart out, eventually soaking Sakura's garments in tears. Sakura did not mind getting wet; this is only a small thing compared to how Ino must have felt right then.

"But I thought there was nothing between the two of you? Did you discover something? Did he admit anything to you?" Sakura felt that it was inappropriate to ask, but she just had to know, not that she's being nosy – she was just really concerned.

"Sakura… He admitted to me that he had feelings for me! During the mission, he was giving me glances as if there was something wrong with my look or something. The night before we left for the mission, he was walking around the village and when he passed by our house I saw him; I suppose he was anxious about our mission, but then we walked for a while and got talking. A few moments later, he walked me back home. Before I went inside our house, Shikamaru handed me…"

Ino paused in midsentence and remembered… _The letter! I still haven't read that letter!_

"Handed you what?"

"It's nothing, Sakura. I just remembered I needed to do something – something that has long been overdue. I better get going, or else I could not live with myself!"

With that, Ino stood up, wiped the tears off her face, and leapt off the hospital window towards the setting sun, leaping off rooftops and sparing no time to look back.

"Ino… please always be careful… You would always find me near when you need me." Sakura stared out into the opened window and could not help but worry.

At the Yamanaka Residence…

Ino rushed up into her room and hurried up to her bed to search for the letter she hid under her pillow. Much to her frustration, however, she could not find it there, nor was it in all the hiding places she could remember. There was only one explanation for such a case…

"_Okaa-san_," Ino screamed from her room, "Did you clean my room and change my mattress again?" Yup, in times like these, Ino turned to her mom. If anything was amiss around the house, it was usually her mom's doing – not that her dad was equally nosy sometimes or Ino herself loved to snoop around.

"Why, Ino dear," her mother yelled from the backyard, "Did you lose something? I changed them this morning because they were gathering dust like it had been there for ages… It wouldn't be healthy for you now, would it?"

"_Nani!"_

Immediately, Ino rushed downstairs to the pile of laundry that was next in line for the wash. She frantically rummaged through the clothes and covers, tossing things out of the way.

"Ino dear, what are you doing! What are you looking for? If you're not going to help me do the laundry today, why don't you-"

"Found it!" Ino, triumphantly smiling with her find, was greatly relieved to save the letter rolled in the cloth sitting just next to the wash. Not wanting to make her mother any more suspicious, Ino dashed back to her room through the window instead.

At last, it was the moment Ino was waiting for. She decided to relax and settle down on her bed. Finally, after the grueling things she had gone through, she was finally about to read that intriguing letter. Slowly, Ino inspected the envelope. It was plain and simple, which she expected from Shikamaru, but she found a curious seal on the flap of the envelope.

As Ino unfastened the seal flap, she was immediately enveloped in total darkness – this darkness, however, was quite… different. In a way, this darkness was… warm and relaxing; it made Ino feel comfortable and secure, as if to show her that escaping away from the worries of the world was the greatest feeling there is.

**A/N**: Just to remind everyone, sentences in _italics_ are thoughts. In the letter below, the lines in _italics_ obviously belong to Ino, alright? Okay, onto the much-awaited letter!

_Sugoi… Did Shikamaru do this? How on earth was he able to… I feel so… warm and content… I don't think I could be any happier… Did he always feel this comfortable? Shika, I think I'm beginning to understand you better now…_

_Shikamaru's Letter_

To the troublesome Ino,

I know, I know, you might think that the lazy Shikamaru wouldn't bother writing letters, even so writing to someone I already meet each and every day. Just hear me out for a second before you decide to stop reading, okay?

_Ano_… so where do I begin? Well lately, I haven't been able to relax like I used to. Even worse, my jounin special missions have gotten a bit more troublesome because I couldn't keep a clear head, and believe me, it caused me and my team some brushes with death. So what am I trying to say here? Well, that's just it Ino… you've been the one driving me nuts!

_Well, if I was driving you nuts, why didn't you say so? Oh you brainy types are the same… always thinking to the point that you hesitate to just do it… Shikamaru, we were almost always together – you, me, and Chouji – why did you keep it from me?_

Oh I know, it's hard to believe that one of your teammates has gone over his head and begun to like you, but hey, even I don't know what to think anymore! There have been a lot of times when I couldn't sleep, I couldn't eat, and heck, I can't even enjoy some decent moments of cloud-watching by myself without you stepping into the picture.

_Shika… did I trouble you that much? Well, I must say that I'm a bit flattered that I was the only one to actually get your attention away from the clouds… Though I must say that cloud-watching is still mysterious to me…_

Well, to tell you the truth, that's not the surprising part. I don't find the idea of you popping in my head all the time so troublesome like I used to; in fact, I just realized that I find it… nice. In a way, remembering you makes me want to stop and think about the wonderful ideas about even the weirdest things. In fact, whenever jounin missions go sour, I manage to put on a smile whenever I remember you. Ack, I don't know what's the matter with me anymore!

Ino, I know we have had a lot of years of friendship between the three of us – you, me, and Chouji – but I don't think it would be right for a man – no, your friend – to hide things from you; you deserve only the best. I know that telling you these could change a lot of things in our lives, but I just had to do it… I felt that it was the right thing for me to do. It sounds a bit stupid, _ne_, Shikamaru going soft for a girl?

_Shika, the only stupid thing would have to be not telling me this sooner… Chouji and I are your friends; no matter what happens we would still be the same, Ino-Shika-Chou for now and always… or at least, that was what I hoped for…_

Yamanaka Ino, I don't expect anything from you, but… if you don't mind… could you go out with me to the next festival? Care to give me a chance? I won't force you if you don't want to… I just thought that things could – you know – work out if we gave it a try.

_Shikamaru! Oh… why didn't you just ask me face to face? The three of us always manage to meet before the day ends, and when we can't meet because of our own missions, we always make sure we tell each other first and then catch up afterwards. Chouji's your best friend, I'm sure he'd be happy for you if you asked me right away, but I guess… you're just not the type to initiate things on your own now, are you? Shika…_

Please think it through, Ino, you don't need to tell me right away. Things may be a bit awkward the following times we meet, but at least you won't feel aloof with me about the seemingly stupid way I've been behaving. If you think things could work out between the two of us, just let me know. Don't worry Ino, I won't be going anywhere.

Lazy but ever reliable,

Shikamaru

_Shikamaru's Letter_

Ino stared at those words at the very end of the letter body:

_Don't worry Ino, I won't be going anywhere._

Ino was still shaken by that last line. Ino could no longer believe in herself. Whatever little comfort left in herself was now gone. Immediately, she fell down on her bed and hugged her pillow tightly as tears freely flowed down her cheeks. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs and blame the entire world for Shikamaru's death, but the darkness around her consoled her as if taking away all her thoughts of pain. In the darkness, Ino could not feel anything but emptiness and distress, and she really could not help it; not even the most helpful mood genjutsu could alleviate her loneliness. Ino spent moments to think and sort out her feelings… she needed all this time to collect herself.

When Ino closed the flap of the envelope, the darkness immediately receded, uncovering the light and warmth of the rays of the setting sun. While the scenery usually took her breath away, she could not dare to look through her window and stare at the sky… she could not bear to see the clouds because they brought her memories of that shadow jounin. While fighting the depression, Ino decided to view the sky just this time around for her friend's sake…

_Ah… The clouds are wonderful today. If only Shikamaru were here to see them… The clouds seem to be broken-hearted without someone to appreciate them… _

_Do not worry dear little clouds, for as long as Shikamaru remains in my memory and in my heart, I shall take his place… You and I shall never be lonely, for we have this person dear to us to help us live._

* * *

A/N: So, how was it? Was it well worth the wait? Did I give justice to Ino's and Shikamaru's characters? It was quite tough trying to balance everything, so as not to make Ino too affectionate or Shikamaru too sensitive. As far as I could tell, this is one of the longest and probably most complicated updates yet. I have had to go back and see how it all turned out overall, you know. Anyway, I would love to hear from you all, as I could use them to improve the story later on.

Please review! (Remember, the review screen is only a webpage away.) _Arigato gozaimasu!_


	7. Chapter 6 : Moving On

_Hajime mashite_!

So far, things have been becoming anything BUT Shikamaru-centric, haven't they? Things did not turn out to focus on our favorite hero as I supposed but please bear with me. As for the rest of the cast, don't worry; I'm planning to give them a shot at the spotlight for this story, but I would only select some and still have to figure out where they would fit in nicely.

I'm sorry guys if I'm not able to update quickly enough. With the rate I'm going, I don't think I'd be able to leave you with an update even by the end of this month, and it would be a lot less so until way in December. I have my schoolwork to focus on, but I promise not to leave this story hanging either.

To respond to some of my rather recent reviewers:

**dana **– I'll try to adopt ideas from your dreamy sequence, but I'd have to say that it won't be coming pretty soon. I'm thinking of something similar, though not as colorful as you imagine it to be. Thanks for the suggestion though!

**gonekrazy3000 **and** Always-a-kiwi **– Here's another update; I hope I didn't leave you hanging… much. evil grin

Oh, and by the way, I wish to greet Shikamaru and Ino an advanced happy birthday! (September 22 and 23, respectively). I hope to come up with a birthday gift chapter for them; after all, they are the focus of the story, right? Keep your fingers crossed, _minna_!

Everyone, enjoy! I hope you spread the word around, too.

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Six : Moving On_

§

Ino was marching around town, looking for that pathetic excuse of a chuunin teammate. For the past few days, Asuma had wanted the team to meet together for some more 'balanced' training, but it seems that not even this taijutsu jounin could find his favorite student. Given such a predicament, Asuma usually left things up to the Yamanaka – after all, she seems to have a knack for finding that lazy kid.

Finally, Ino found the shadow nin in his usual cloud-watching spot. Imagine that; how on earth could Asuma have missed this?

"_Oi_! Shikamaaaaaruuuuu!" Ino was yelling from the top of her lungs.

_How annoying… And it's such a nice day for cloud-watching too… Tch. It's a shame that my afternoon would be wasted on another lame training session. Well, at least I wouldn't need to go looking for her now… Man, this is so troublesome…_

"Shika! Get up this instant you lazy kid," Ino bellowed. She swore she would go over the top any moment now if that teammate of hers didn't get moving. "Oi, you are such a pain in the neck, you know that? Asuma's been looking for 'ya! He wants to train us some more, and we sure ain't starting without you!"

"Man, Ino, your hollering is so annoying. Plus, training is troublesome. Can't a guy enjoy his clouds for just ten minutes?"

"What do you mean 'ten minutes'! For all that I know, you've been there all day!"

"Alright, alright. I'm coming. Sheesh. All that yelling will merit you the most boisterous woman ever born in the face of Konoha."

"And all that complaining will merit you the laziest _baka_ in the whole universe. Humph!"

The two thirteen-year-olds started walking back to their training grounds. As they were marching towards their team's training area, Ino looked at her friend, and she sensed some sadness he was hiding underneath that façade of a grin – it looks as if he was trying hard to keep something important from her. She just turned her head away, not knowing what to do.

A few paces more and she looked at him again. In an instant, they were suddenly sixteen years old. Ino was surprised. She took a good look at herself, and she was turning out to be an attractive kunoichi with such a nice complexion and the right figures – slender body, firm hips, and such sexy legs.

"Ino," Shikamaru called in a calm, warm tone. As she turned to him, she saw his serious face, now shaped by the harshness that shinobi face. As she examined him further from head to toe, she realized that he had grown more muscular, with such a toned chest, firm torso, and strong arms; it must be the training, she thought to herself. She was still absorbed in observing his physique when Shikamaru called her again.

"Ino," he began, "you're a chuunin now. I hope you do realize that you would be assigned more dangerous missions – a lot of which you could possibly never come back from alive. It's not that I'm underestimating you, but these missions usually… turn much less the way you plan them to be."

Ino simply nodded, not wanting to interrupt his serious words of concern.

"As Asuma may have already told you, I'm with the tactical division now, and I've heard from the other jounin that they want to assign you to the special reconnaissance division while they want Chouji in the reserved assault regiment. As it stands, I don't think we would be able to hang around as much as we did before, much less in any of the missions."

Ino just kept silent, and the successive few moments passed without any other conversation. Before they managed to reach a still smoking Asuma and an increasingly plump Chouji, Ino wanted to tell Shikamaru something, but could not find the right words to say…

"Shikamaru, I-"

"-Ino," Shikamaru cut her off, "whatever happens… just promise me… you'll try your best to be safe, okay?" He then put on a downcast face but turned away so that his worried but puzzled friend could not see. "I sure wouldn't bear the thought of you getting hurt." Realizing how embarrassing that must have sounded, Shikamaru immediately added, "… and neither would Chouji or Asuma."

Ino looked up and only managed to stare at the shadow jounin's back as he slowly sauntered towards his sensei and his best friend with hands casually buried in his pockets.

"Hn. That _baka_," Ino murmured to herself, "always thinking too much. Who does he think I am?" She walked up to the team displaying a cheerful face, but deep down she felt really disturbed.

All of a sudden, Ino was wrapped in total darkness and was taken aback, shuddering to discover that she was all by herself. Ino looked around and then began yelling out her friends' names, hoping that somehow any one of them could hear her. As she turned, she saw the figure of a young man from afar. A glint of hope sparkled in Ino's eyes, and she ran towards what slowly formed to be the image of… Shikamaru! By his looks and physique, he now seemed to be almost twenty. Ino was glad to have found someone she recognized, and began to run towards the shadow nin. Somehow, she felt a bit happier that it was… him.

Unfortunately, whenever Ino cried out his name, Shikamaru didn't seem to hear her. She ran to his side, and kept on yelling at his ear and tugging on his sleeve, but she still couldn't make him feel her presence – it's as if she did not exist. Ino felt so hurt; she never wanted to be ignored. The blonde kunoichi always acted bossy when they were kids because no one even cared to know more about her. Somehow, Ino felt that her teammates would, but given that Chouji was forever preoccupied with his chips, perhaps that lazy _baka_ would, especially when all he did was to lie down on the grass and stare at the clouds.

Ino looked up once more to call him, but Shikamaru turned his head towards her at the exact same time. Ino felt glad that he had finally heard her, but she was disappointed as Shikamaru only stared at nothing but empty space. As she observed him further, Ino saw that this man had such an empty look in his eyes, eyes which were desperately looking for someone.

"Ino…" Shikamaru was softly calling her name.

In her shock, the blonde kunoichi only stared back at him. The moment she realized what happened, she only wanted to desperately reach out to him even more.

"Yes Shika, I'm here… Yamanaka Ino is here! Can't you see me? Can't you hear me! I'm here, dammit!" Tears welled in Ino's eyes and threatened to fall any moment now.

"Ino… where are you," Shikamaru desperately called yet again. "Ino… I just can't seem… to find you! Where are you Ino? Dammit! Where are yoooooouuuuuu!" Shikamaru's cry trailed off into the darkness.

Shaken by sheer loneliness, Shikamaru's legs gave in and made him fall down to his hands and knees. Ino did not know what to do… what to say…

"Ino… I'm… scared… I'm all alone… Will I… ever see you again?"

Ino did not like all these even one bit. She knelt down in front of the despairing jounin and held him by his shoulders. "I'm here, Shika! You're never alone!" Alas, it was useless; Shikamaru could never feel her presence no matter how hard she tried.

Then, as if by some weird genjutsu, the two friends were slowly being torn away from whatever little contact they had left – it was as if two huge invisible hands were prying Shikamaru away from the blonde kunoichi's grip.

Before Shikamaru vanished from Ino's view, he suddenly turned his head up to look in Ino's direction, and began to cry, "Ino, find me! Help me! I don't want to be alone for the rest of my life!"

Upon hearing those words, Ino's chest felt warmer, her breast beating harder. "Shikamaru, no matter what… I'll find you!"

Finally, as if the lonely shadow shinobi heard her, he added, "I'll be waiting for you!"

§

Ino jolted awake from her startling vision. She was sure that it had all been just a dream, but it felt so real that her cheeks were drenched by the tears that fell in her sleep. As Ino recalled the surprisingly vivid images of her long-lost friend Shikamaru, she felt that he was alive now more than ever. It must have been a sign of hope from _kami-sama_; what else could it have been?

It was only about three in the morning, but Ino could no longer go back to sleep now that she was completely agitated. So, she decidedly got up from her bed and took a nice, warm bath – that one always had quite the relaxing effect on her. After that, she dried herself and put on her training gear. Ino never abandoned her purple outfit, but given that she now had to wear the special women's chuunin vest which kunoichi wore underneath their upper garments, she was now always dressed in one which slightly reached her waist. Once Ino had finished changing, she stepped out of her apartment and began strolling down the street.

As Ino headed for the park, her mind drifted to wonder about what had happened to her other friends who had gone missing over the years. Right at the top of her list – and just about the ANBU's and Godaime's as well – was their batch's number one rookie: Uchiha Sasuke. The Uchiha had deserted Hokuni – the Fire Country – three years ago and hasn't made an appearance ever since. He had been madly seeking ways to become the best shinobi, and he sought Orochimaru to obtain the power to kill his spiteful brother, Itachi. Whether Sasuke actually met Orochimaru or even gotten closer to defeating his sibling no one ever knew, but the entire village expected him to be there when the Akatsuki wreaked havoc on the allied countries just three years ago. Orochimaru did make his presence felt in Konoha then and saved its people from the wrath of the much-dreaded organization – much to everyone's surprise – but only dismissed it as wanting to crush Konoha himself when the opportunity presented itself. Ask anyone from the Hidden Leaf and they would immediately say that even the Sandaime would have certainly shed a tear for his student. Notwithstanding Orochimaru's valiance, reminiscing about those days gave Ino the shivers – not only did Itachi virtually pound the hidden villages to dust, but he and his cohorts also managed to critically injure the Kages and make every medical nin scramble into such a frenzy for even the forbidden healing techniques.

Second in the roster was Subaku no Gaara, the pride of Suna. Yes, he once was part of the invasion team of the combined Sand and Sound village forces, but when relations between the Fire and Wind countries improved and when Naruto showed him a better way to live life, he had grown to protect the residents of Suna with his life as the village's Kazekage. Sure Ino did not have any particularly close relationships with the sand shinobi, but she had experienced working with him side by side in some missions for the Wind country. Unfortunately, when the Akatsuki kidnapped him three years back and it was discovered that they were after the monster Shukaku inside the sand nin, he had never been spotted again. As a result of Gaara's abduction, the various daimyos of the Wind country have become defiant and had sought ways to capture Sunagakure and call it their own. To date, no local lord has been successful at taking the Hidden Sand village, but only _kami-sama_ can tell when that day would come.

Of course, of all the people in the known missing list, Yamanaka Ino could not forget her intelligent teammate and very loyal friend, Nara Shikamaru. The official ANBU report authorized by the Godaime concluded that he was lost to an encounter with agents of the Hidden Sound in one of his espionage missions. According to the report, the three of them – Ino, Chouji, and he – were already on the retreat when they were intercepted and ambushed by the enemy. Ino and Chouji did manage to reach Konoha, but unfortunately the jounin was lost in the surprise attack. When medic and retrieval teams made it back to the site, they eventually located his body, scarred with blades and bruised with chakra attacks, and set it ablaze as was part of standard operating procedures for the protection of Konoha's techniques. When Shikamaru's mom and dad got wind of the news, they lamented for days – his mom did not take his only son's death very well. However, even with the explanations provided by the Hokage, Ino knew better than to believe that Shikamaru was dead. She knew that Tsunade could not afford to waste their village's best tactician, and so she had no recourse than to say his dead body was characteristically burned and have espionage teams sent to the nearby neighboring countries for traces of the shadow jounin. Unfortunately, the Godaime still has no word of him. Obviously, asking for the other countries' help would make them want Shikamaru to make him serve as one of their country's greatest assets, and so the wise sannin did not bother.

Ino finally made it to the park. Looking up, she saw the beautiful sun sluggishly rising from the distance, and it instantly reminded her of that shadow jounin. She stared at the wonderfully brightening sky… _If only mornings were always beautiful like this… If only you were here, Shikamaru, then you too would feel awe for the gift of a brand new day… And look, even the clouds are out here to greet you! I could just spend my morning like this…_

Ino was still relaxingly gazing at the sun when she suddenly remembered that she was supposed to meet Asuma-_sensei_ for her routine taijutsu training. She desperately needed every waking moment to improve herself these days, and so she left the park without further ado and headed to their meeting place: the lone tree on a hill just at the outskirts of the village.

After spending the entire morning practicing her taijutsu moves with Asuma, Ino promptly thanked her jounin sensei and ran over to the nearest bread shop to grab some quick, healthy lunch. Considering that she had been awake even before sunrise – which was relatively unusual, Ino had grown quite an appetite, but she was not about to ruin her incredibly perfect figure with some junk food. As the blonde kunoichi stared at her lunch, she sighed; she missed the good old days when the three 'weaklings' from Team 10 ate at the grill restaurant. That place was particularly special for Chouji because Asuma treated him to loads of beef and pork whenever he helped out with Shikamaru's training. Speaking of which, Chouji had lately been very busy with helping out the medical division in formulating even more potent soldier pills for the Konoha Special Forces. The two of them still meet and go out regularly, though their times together have certainly been a lot less fun and interesting as Shikamaru was no longer around to comfort the blonde in her personal disappointments and failures or to lighten up the massive, big-boned guy in his occasional cheerless moods.

As Ino finished her last bite, she realized she took too long musing over past experiences… again. For the past year now, Ino's afternoons were always scheduled for ninjutsu and genjutsu training with her dad, the special mind jounin, Yamanaka Inoshi. Ino sped off at once to her family residence. Well, she was usually late for their meetings, but as Ino knew how her father always felt about punctuality, she was not going to push her luck today…

Over at the Yamanaka compound…

A blonde kunoichi stealthily sneaked into the yard from the compound's southern wall. She only managed to take a few steps when kunai instantly flew in her direction. She immediately sensed the sharp blades that quickly came her way and so managed to dodge them effortlessly, tumbling sideways into the open field and towards what seemed to be a hidden trap! With wonderful grace and sheer agility, Ino stretched her legs across the entire diameter of the hole just before she continued rolling into the pit. The cover fell into the ditch, revealing erect pointed spears ready to skewer any sorry person or object that fell upon them. It was not yet over, however, as shuriken flew all of a sudden in Ino's direction from the bushes. She leaped away from the hole to evade the oncoming stars but was not swift enough as two of them managed to graze her on her left arm and right leg. Ino winced a bit from her scratches but decided against attending to them until she knew she was completely safe from any more attack.

"Impressive, my dear," an all familiar voice cried from the house rooftop. "I see that the training that Asuma had been giving you have sharpened your skills and senses, but you still need to exert a lot more effort if you want to become a better kunoichi capable of using my techniques." Father Yamanaka Inoshi leaped down onto the ground effortlessly.

"That is not fair, _otôsan_," Ino answered. "Assaulting your own daughter when she's so kind enough to visit you? Is that anyway you treat your precious little girl around here now?"

"Now, now, Ino precious: Just because you're my lovely little pearl doesn't mean that I'm going to take it easy on you, understand? Besides, how do you expect me to teach you our family's entire array of techniques if you're not even ready to practice them? How would I know?"

"Hmph." Ino childishly pouted. "So… does this mean that I finally get to learn your secret technique?"

"Well, my dear… I think you're just about ready – but don't expect too much, alright? So, shall we get started?"

"_Hai_," Ino enthusiastically affirmed.

During the past few weeks Inoshi only trained his daughter in the simple techniques of their clan and helped her refine them. Today, however, he felt that she was finally ready to learn the more complicated ones. "Ah, and it seemed only yesterday when she became a genin," Inoshi mused to himself.

The entire afternoon was spent in serious mind training as father taught daughter how to properly channel her chakra and execute the appropriate hand signals with the precise timing. Ino started out slow in her lessons, but she quickly learned them once she got a hang of them. She wasn't the best kunoichi in class for nothing, you know.

The afternoon quickly passed as the sun began to set. For her first time, Ino proved herself to be the brilliant kunoichi; she managed to nearly completely learn the first of her clan's advanced mind manipulation techniques. Inoshi finally decided to conclude that day's training session before his daughter met trouble on her way home far into the night. But then again, she is the best kunoichi in her batch; why should he worry? She's still one tough Yamanaka, after all.

"Ino dear," Inoshi lovingly called to his daughter, "please visit your mother before you leave – she already misses you. She's just inside."

"_Tadashi_, I come visit you and _okâsan_ almost every day. It's not like she did not hug me yesterday…"

"Now Ino, you know that your mom and I are growing a bit… old, unfortunately. You know how depressed your mother gets whenever the two of us are alone in this big old house. Please do her this favor, little precious?" Inoshi gave his daughter the puppy-dog look; he knew that his daughter could not resist it as it works every time. From whom do you think she got her unbelievable mix of temper and persuasiveness?

"_Hai_," Ino cheerily agreed. "If it means that much to the both of you then I'd be more than happy to." Before she stepped inside, Ino kissed her dad. "_Arigatô gozaimasu_, _otôsan_. You don't know how much I've been waiting for you to teach me those."

"Anytime, sweetie. You deserve only the very best."

Ino stepped inside the spacious house and found her mom, busily cleaning up the tea table. The two sat down together and talked for a while before Ino got up, hugged her mother, and bid her goodbye to head back to her own apartment. She did miss staying around her parents' house, but she had made her decision to stop depending on others too much the day she lost her friend Shikamaru.

Finally, after such a long day, the blonde kunoichi could now enjoy the entire evening to herself. Well, that was what she thought anyway until she began to unlock the door to her apartment…

"Ino-_san_," a shinobi interrupted as he appeared right beside her. Out of surprise, Ino drew out her kunai and held it to his neck but managed to control herself before she actually got to slash him.

"You know better than to sneak up on a fellow nin. Why are you here?"

"_Gomen nasai_, Ino-_san_," the shinobi apologized, "but I bring urgent news from the Hokage. She wants us to meet her in her office for our next assignment."

Ino was getting irritated by this ill-timed assignment. "Ryoko-_san_, it _is _late. Is this one of those over-ranked missions? I must tell you I didn't like the last one. Must she give us this assignment now?"

"Unfortunately, she said this task should no longer be delayed. Please, Ino-_san_, we must report to her immediately."

"Oh alright," Ino finally resigned, "but this better be good, or else the mission's going to have to wait. I need my rest, you know." Without any moment to spare, the two finally sped off into the administrative headquarters

Ryoko, quite the timid chuunin, did not know which one to be more afraid of: the Hokage, for her power and position, or Ino, for her occasionally uncontrollable temper. Without a doubt, Tsunade-_sama_ was the greatest shinobi in the entire village and could therefore punish them in an instant, but Ino was absolutely the most fearful woman ever should one decide to cross her. For many people, Ino was such a liability for her rather unpredictable tantrums, but Ryoko grew to understand her more than anyone – other than her parents and her old pals from the academy, of course. What many people saw in Ino as sheer stubbornness and bossiness, Ryoko saw strong will and perseverance to get the job done. People said Ino rarely looked after her companions' welfare, but he knew that Ino always cared for each of the people she dealt with, only she showed it in her own special way. As Ryoko stared at her, he saw such an admirable woman, someone who would certainly make a husband proud and happy.

"Ryoko-_san_… Ryoko-_san_!" Ino awoke the man from his trance.

"Sorry, Ino-_san_. What is it?"

"I've been calling your name for the past three minutes already. Are you alright?"

"No, Ino-_san_. I'm feeling perfectly fine. What is it?"

"Well, have you told Hana about this already? Does she know we've been called?"

"_Hai_. I already mentioned this to her when I met her on the way to your place. I told her to meet us outside the Hokage's office. She's already prepared our packs."

"Good old Hana: always ready for anything… Oh, I guess we're here." Ino and Ryoko had made it to the administrative building. Immediately, the two headed up for the hall outside the Hokage's office where, true enough, their teammate Hana was patiently waiting.

Hana was a chuunin as well, only a year younger than her two teammates. She is the weapons and logistics expert on their team, and her techniques in genjutsu are very helpful. She and Ino have a lot of things in common, though Hana is less conversational as Ino. This is not to say that Hana was withdrawn, though; she just knows when to say what and how much – it tends to get her and the team out of trouble in many tight situations.

"Hokage-_sama_," a rather annoyed Ino said, barging into the Godaime's office, "I hope that this mission is no disappointment, calling us here at night…"

"Oh, Ino-_san_," the busy Hokage greeted as she tore herself away from the pile of paperwork. "I take it that I disturbed you from some other rather important matter?"

"Well… _ano_ …"

"I'll take that as a 'no', so I guess you could do this for me, then?" Ino nodded, abashed. Upon seeing their teammate calm down, Ryoko and Hana sighed with relief. Hana, for one, was glad that their Hokage was not short-tempered, like their friend. Good thing they were both understanding.

"Before things get any more awkward, I want the three of you to bring this document to the Kazekage."

"To the Kazekage herself," Ino said in surprise. "All the way in Suna?"

"Where else would you find her?"

The three chuunin were stunned to be sent to Suna. Was it really that urgent? Why now?

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Apparently, the three took longer than usual to understand their new assignment as they lingered around moments after the Hokage had given it to them.

"Hokage-_sama_," Ryoko curiously asked, "why do you need to send three chuunin to the Wind Country to handle this document? And why is this so urgent?"

"Ryoko-_san_," the Hokage replied, "you should know better than to ask me about confidential matters. That is an official scroll of correspondence with the Kage of Suna. I need for you to bring this to her immediately as I am expecting a reply in return. That is all that you need to know."

The three shook their heads, but agreeing to the assignment nonetheless.

"Take this as a B-class mission. The futures of Hokuni and Kaze no Kuni may rest in your success. Make sure it gets there within three days. Understood?"

"_Hai_," the three said in unison and immediately set off for Suna.

* * *

A/N: Whew, this is yet another one of my rather longest works. Would you believe this actually took me weeks to think? 

Plot-wise, what do you think of this chapter? Care for some OC involvement? (wink wink) I would still love to hear your comments about an opportunity to insert a short OC plot. In other news, are the Japanese insertions a bit of overkill, style-wise? Am I too formal for your taste? I'm trying not to be too strict, but I find the story plot and conversations improving whenever I use English to build them.

Nihonggo 101:

_Arigatô gozaimasu_. – Thank you very much!

_Gomen nasai_. – Sorry.

The next update is foreseen to be uploaded, regrettably, in a couple of week's time – a couple of months at the very worst (December). It's school time once again for me and thesis and mounting workloads are pressuring me. While it may not comfort you much, I just want to let you all know that I'm going to finish this story whatever it takes. So until the next chapter, keep on sending those reviews! Thanks!

Please review! _Dômo arigatô gozaimasu!_


	8. Chapter 7 : Leaves in the Breeze

_Hajime mashite_!

It's been quite a while now, hasn't it? I apologize for the months-long hiatus, but I have to concentrate on my schoolwork now, don't I? At any rate, I think I could come up with a few more chapters until mid-January, but I do hope I get out more by then than just the three I'm estimating. Well, I guess we all just have to wait and see… Just keep your fingers crossed, _minna_!

By the way, I wish to greet every reader a belated Merry Christmas (or for our non-Christian friends, Happy Holidays!) and an advanced Happy New Year! I hope everyone's alright this past year, so don't forget to make up with your enemies before the year ends! Take care, and Happy Reading!

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Seven : Leaves in the Breeze_

Somewhere in the Great Wind Desert

The sun was high and the gusts were mild. Three nins quickly made their way through the dunes of Kaze no kuni, the Wind Country. So far, things were going smoothly; they had not encountered any shinobi from Suna, which was quite alright really, but they supposed that it was because of the recently adopted demilitarization policy of the power players in that nation.

"Well, things may be going good so far for us, but stay alert just in case things go suddenly tight for us," told one kunoichi to the others behind her.

"I'd have to say that things are no longer the same in this country, but I suppose it's just the few of those higher-ups playing their way through and fighting for dominance and security," replied one trailing shinobi.

"If I didn't know better," added the other kunoichi in the pack, "I'd say everyone at Suna isn't happy at all to have their security cut down… The Kazekage is bound to have a lot of rivals who simply can't wait to get their hands on that village."

"Well," replied the blonde nin leader, "let's not jump to any conclusions… It's not our affair to deal with and I surely don't want to make any more enemies during our mission here. Let's hurry on… I don't want my pay cut just because we got late with our delivery."

The rest nodded in agreement and went their way.

Sunagakure, the Hidden village of the Sand

Fortunately, the Yamanaka team did not find any trouble getting to the Suna Headquarters. The Kazekage just got back from another one of the political summits in another village with the other daimyos in the region, and rumor has it that things were no better off now than before. Well, it was none of the Konoha nins' business whether things were getting tense in this nation, but the blonde kunoichi sure didn't want unrest in all of Kaze no kuni when it meant more risky aid missions for Konoha. After all, more missions meant less hot, relaxing baths back at her apartment.

But this was not the time for her to think about comfort… everyone in the ceremonial meeting room now stood attentive at the impending arrival of the Kazekage. As he entered the room into the partition behind the curtain, Ino could not help but notice that this particular Kage looked… slimmer than she imagined him to be. Ino wondered whether this job was taking its toll on her.

The Kage and the two village elders sat down across the three guests from Konoha from behind the curtain, and almost immediately the Kazekage began to speak.

"Ah… Guests from our precious ally, Konoha. To what do I owe this visit?"

_This one sounds vaguely familiar_, Ino thought. _I didn't know the Kazekage had such a… high-pitched voice. Unless this person is of course…_

"The Hokage has sent us to give you this message," came a deep voice from behind the Yamanaka. "He is also expecting a prompt reply sometime very soon."

"Well, he would be wise not to rush the Kazekage," replied the leader of the Sand with a slight hint of intimidation towards the end of that last statement. "Your leaders would find that the Hidden Village of the Sand has not lost its touch even in the midst of our rather… irritating problems."

The three nins wore a more serious expression on their faces, but agreed not to insinuate anything more – whether or not on purpose – that could rattle the delicate relationship between the two countries.

"Oh, don't give me _that_ look now," followed the Kazekage abruptly. "I was just trying to brighten up this rather dour atmosphere." The Kazekage smirked a bit, but the elders both cleared their throats to remind their Kage of his propriety.

"Oh, pardon me for my rather… inappropriate behavior," said the Kazekage to his guests, referring to the elders, "but these two have not gotten used to my way of doing things around here," said the leader.

"Things, which, mind you," interjected the woman to the right, "could get you in a rather tight situation in the future if you don't act more carefully." The Kazekage only shook his head.

"Well, I'm not going to get things done here with all of you crowding up the air," he began, "so why don't you all leave me and my guests from Konoha here in this room? And yes, that includes both of you, dear elders, with all due respect."

After a bit of reluctance by the security shinobi in the room and much hesitation on the part of the elders, the room finally became empty, leaving the Kazekage and the three foreign shinobi behind.

"My, my, my, what have I gotten myself into…" The Kazekage shook his head again as he began to remove his robe and hat. The Yamanaka was getting interested to finally find out how the Kazekage got to be so thin when all of his predecessors were tall and fit, only to realize that… the 'he' was actually a 'she'.

"Temari! Eeehhh!" Ino was caught in utter disbelief.

The two shinobi were surprised at their leader's sudden outburst, obviously missing something. _How could she address the Kazekage like that_, Ryoko whispered to himself, _even if it were true she was this… Temari?_

"_Nani_! I thought that it would be you, you bratty Yamanaka Ino!"

Needless to say, the clueless pair behind the blonde Konoha kunoichi was stunned. Not only did their team leader know of the Kazekage, but it seemed that they have been close acquaintances in the past!

"What are you doing, wearing the Kazekage's robes like that! How could you be-"

"My dear ill-tempered rival," Temari said teasingly, "apparently it's been quite a while since you've really come to this place. I've been inducted as the new Kazekage and am now three months into my reign. I didn't expect to see you under these circumstances."

"What the… Well, I suppose I should've seen it, being the daughter of one of the former Kazekages and all, but still!"

"Hey, I'm not sensing some insecurity here, now am I?"

"What! Who do you thi-"

"Aherm," Hana coughed loudly enough to interrupt the two's awkward 'reunion'. "Ino-_san_, could you please fill us in on your… acquaintance? With all due respect, of course, Kazekage-_sama_."

"Oh, right," the Yamanaka apologetically answered. "Temari, these are Hana and Ryoko, my new teammates back at Konoha. Guys, this is Temari, one of my old… comrades from about three years ago, and apparently the current Kazekage."

"Well, nice to meet the both of you," Temari said, "but I must say that I'm rather surprised with your teammate here. Really, is she YOUR team leader? From back then, she didn't even know how to look after herself!"

"I know just how to take care of myself, thank you very much," a somewhat annoyed Ino retorted. "You haven't seen how much I've improved from before, so I wouldn't be taking myself so lightly if I were you."

"And I suppose that the pride of Suna is no match for a chuunin of Konoha?"

Obviously, this line of conversation must stop, and by this time Ryoko decided to intervene… lest they wanted to stay any longer than they should in the restless Sunagakure.

"Uhm, ladies?"

The two broke their eye contact and glared at the only male shinobi in the room.

"Do you both mind if we get back on track before some… fight begins? The Hokage really needs your reply, Kazekage-_sama_."

"My, my," Temari teasingly began, "aren't we the respectful gentleman? I suppose that nobody has given you a taste of the wild side?"

Ryoko was taken aback. Was the Kazekage hitting on him? He dismissed the idea before some other naughty thought came to mind.

"Ryoko, Hana," Temari continued, "whenever we are just by ourselves… whenever I am in the company of some friendly acquaintances only, I mean, I would rather that you call me by my name, Temari. No buts," she hurriedly added upon seeing the two's opening mouths. "If you persistently call me by my title, I'd call my personal guards and make sure they give you the most… uncomfortable treatment possible, understood?"

The two did not want to get on the bad side of this feisty lady and so, even without the menacing look she gave them, they immediately nodded.

"Great," Temari cheerfully cried, as if her previous threat was nothing, "so I guess I better read that letter then. You should explore the village for a while; there isn't much to see, but nothing beats the time here like some quick breath of fresh air in between weak sandstorms. Besides, I'm guessing that this letter's going to take me quite some time before I finish writing a decent response."

"Ooh, I know," Ino excitedly blurted out. "Ryoko, could you take Hana-_chan_ to the village's market? If I remember correctly, they sell some trinkets there. They're quite famous here in Suna, and I do believe they are only made during this time of the year."

"Well, alright I suppose," Ryoko answered, "but what about you?"

"Yeah," Hana added, "where would you be going?"

"It's been quite a while since I've had a private conversation with Temari. I believe we have some catching up to do."

"Okay, just so long as you think you could handle your temper," Hana joked. "Please make sure you don't get all riled up and add more problems to this country, Ino-_san_." Ryoko chuckled at that, but Ino could only control her anger.

"Fine," Ino finally admitted in resignation. "Just make sure you're back here in no longer than two hours. I want to head back home the moment she gets that reply letter done."

Without further ado, the team parted ways. Ino headed inside the Kazekage's office and decided to get a few things clarified about… his old friend's death a few years ago. She thought that Temari could have some leads about him, or perhaps some clue about what secrets the crystal she still wore to this day held.

"I assuming you're not lost, entering my office," the Kazekage tentatively asked as Ino stepped into the office and returned from her reverie.

"Getting accustomed to having an office, I see," Ino snapped back. It is really a wonder how she's able to retort without so much as a wink of an eye. "I hope you don't get used to it. I heard this village changes head very frequently, based on these past few months. Wouldn't want to relinquish the power too soon now, do we?"

"Shut up. What is it you wanted to talk about anyhow?"

Ino was hesitant, but decided to sit down by the Kazekage's desk nonetheless. She felt that Temari would somehow be uncomfortable discussing what's coming next, but really unsure why that would be. Did Temari have the same… feelings as she had, or still has? Does she… Ino did not want to think more than she ought to, and so began with, "Temari, would you care to tell me anything about… Nara Shikamaru… about the time before he died?"

Temari raised an eyebrow as she tore her eyes from her letter. She did not know where Ino was going with this, but nevertheless entertained her. "What about him? It's been around three years already, hasn't it? Died in the line of duty… that's just _so _unlike him."

"Well… I know that. It's just that… well, did he… share you something some time before he… went to that mission?"

"Where do I enter the picture? I assume he was round-the-clock on duty there at Konoha with his genius and all, so how would we be able to meet in the first place?"

"I don't know," admitted the Yamanaka, feeling stupid she asked in the first place. "I just wanted to know whether maybe he and you… well, you know… uhm…"

"In the name of _kami-sama_, is this about what I think it is," Temari asked in disbelief but humored to see Ino's insecurity.

"What?"

"Ino of the proud Yamanaka clan of Konoha, did you honestly believe that Nara Shikamaru and I had something going on?"

The Konoha kunoichi blushed madly with her realization. _Why did I even bother? Now she's gonna shove it to my face!_

"Well?"

Ino could only nod at her inquiry.

"I thought so. I saw it coming for years! And don't think that Naruto, Neji, the others including that dense Kiba don't think you had it going on for each other! Really, to think you had the pride and wit of a woman! You shame me…"

"What are you talking about? Shikamaru and I did NOT have anything going on! Unless of course… he really did like me then…"

"Oh come on Yamanaka! Don't tell me you didn't notice? Or did the fun of bossing him around eventually blind you from seeing the signs? Man, I think Hinata's better than you at this…"

"Hey!"

"I'm just stating the facts, pathetic as they may be."

Ino looked down. She could not face Temari ever again after this.

"If you must know, Ino, I tried to _persuade_ him to be mine," Temari said with quite the emphasis on that 'persuade' part, "but alas… he had his heart set for someone else. And let me tell you this: for a lazy little _baka_ like him, he sure knows how to stick through some tough problems just to make what he sets his mind to happen… or in this case, what he sets his heart to. Ah… that elusive genius of the Nara clan…"

"Uh… so… he decided not to have anything to do with you… apart from being allies, of course?"

"Naturally. Took me a while to find some other guy, I'd say."

Ino took a deep breath. Nara Shikamaru DID like her back! _I just wish he were alive to… still like me… man I'm stupid! _Before everything else could be forgotten, Ino remembered her next question and cleared her throat.

"What is it now, Ino? I thought the Hokage wanted this reply soon. If you keep asking any more questions I'll never get things done!"

"Oh, sorry, but I just have to ask one more thing…"

"So… what is it," Temari impatiently asked.

"Well, before I say it, could you please swear first as Kazekage, as a friend, and as a fellow… friend of Shikamaru?"

"What is this about?"

"Just please promise me first that you'd never tell this to anyone. NOT EVER. Not even if anyone threatened your life to know about it. Please?"

After a little hesitation, Temari nodded in agreement.

"Do you have… any ideas as to what…" Ino took out her crystal necklace from underneath her robe and showed it to Temari, "this could be?"

"What is it?"

"I figured it's some kind of weapon accessory. It's some strange source of power that caused our enemy to gain unparalleled strength during the mission he…" Ino broke off, slowly choking on her words.

"You need say nothing more," Temari comforted. "Are you okay?"

"Well, yeah… I guess I'm alright now," Ino answered after a few controlled breaths. "Thanks."

"No problem. So, he managed to snatch one of these things from them and gave it to you?"

Ino only nodded.

"Wow, that man never ceases to amaze me. He gets himself caught in trouble and still manages to give you and your village something to study. He's really brilliant, that lazy guy…"

"So? What do you think this could be?"

"Our experts have never seen anything like this before, and I believe there's nothing like it in this country. I suppose you're going to have to take your investigation somewhere else."

"Oh," Ino sighed in disappointment.

"Hey, don't get so down. I'm sure there's bound to be something that could lead you and your village to solve it. After all, I think you have enough research power to outmatch the rest of the four great nations."

"Uhm… thanks… I think."

"Well, don't let the Hokage know that I said it, or the other Kages would think I'm sucking up to you guys; I already have enough problems as it is right now."

"Thanks for your help, Temari."

"Don't mention it. Seriously, it's no big deal. But, if ever you feel you seriously need help in any way the shinobi of the Sand can handle, don't forget me, alright?"

"You know what, Temari? For a tough woman, you sure are kind! I sure didn't expect that out of you."

"Hey, a tough woman is still a woman!"

"Alright, alright… So… you finished with that letter yet?"

"Oh don't rush me! Wait outside my office and I'll have your reply as soon as I can."

With that, she got up to her feet and headed for the waiting room. Ino managed to find her two comrades back again, without any sign of a fight but rather with bags of jewelry on their hands.

"Hey, you sure you didn't steal those from the poor people?"

"Ino_-san_," Hana answered, "don't think that we go to foreign lands with no money and to expect us to go back empty-handed. After all, two hours still was a lot of time for us to look around."

"She got a bit carried away," whispered Ryoko to Ino while Hana was fixing her stuff. Apparently, Hana got him to carry some of her stuff. "To think that we're shinobi, she could sure be quite shameless sometimes."

"I heard that," softly bellowed Hana from behind. The other two couldn't help but chuckle.

Temari soon stepped out of her office, wearing her Kage robes again and showing an air of authority which she was trying hard to show.

"Here is my reply for your Hokage. Make sure that no one else gets his hands on this, understood?"

"_Hai_," said the three in unison.

"And really," Temari added in a more friendly voice, "to think that Konoha shinobi know better than to shop extravagantly during their missions!"

"Well excuse me, Temari," Hana answered, "if I have to do some last-minute shopping for my family and feel so thoughtful for my very few friends!"

Temari let out a slight chuckle before regaining her bearing.

"Well, we better get going," Ino started. "We don't want to be delayed or else we'd have to pay for it with salary cuts."

"Ah, the life of a chuunin. I'm glad I'm over that one. Good luck!"

Ino gave Temari a sour face before flashing her a 'thanks for everything' smile behind her teammate's backs. The Kazekage only smiled and bade the team farewell. And soon, the rest left in a puff of smoke leaving the fan user to her country's problems.

* * *

A/N: How did this chapter go? Was Ino OOC? Temari? Hana? Ryoko perhaps? I'm a bit conscious of keeping their characters consistent because it's really been a while since I've updated, and I might have lost the touch for this story. Please review; I highly prize the time you take reading this story, but you don't know how much it helps me whenever you review. 

Thanks to all my readers! Expect my next update to be in a week or two. I have to get some of my thesis done before classes begin again for next term. _Ja' ne_!

Please review! _Dômo arigatô gozaimasu!_


	9. Chapter 8 : Few Surprises Too Many

_Hajime mashite_!

I'm quite glad to hear that I haven't lost my touch, according to one of my reviewers. Thanks for that pick-me-up; you don't know how it means to read your reviews. At any rate, I wish to greet all of you a Happy New Year, 2006! While I sure wish we would all have a better year ahead of us, I just hope you could also spare me a few moments of your time to review.

To answer some of your reviews:

Always-a-kiwi: I believe I mentioned in the sixth chapter that Gaara was kidnapped, so I think being the elder sister she was chosen as a successor. If you are confused as to what changes happened during the three year jump, you could use the sixth chapter as your reference.

Koruyuu: Thanks for the compliment! Don't worry, I'll surely continue writing… it's plain fun!

PimpTroyce: Thanks! Though I personally feel I might have lost my touch a bit… I hope to keep my work consistent enough, and believe me… it really isn't easy. Not to worry though, I'd try to worry less and have fun writing more!

Well, without further ado, here's the chapter eight of _Memories_! Enjoy, _minna_!

reposted due to a canonical error; I have to respect Kishimoto-_san_'s characters

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Eight : Few Surprises Too Many_

Over at Konoha Once Again

It hadn't taken much of a week, but the Yamanaka team could not help but feel grateful that their return trip was really uneventful. Besides their suspicion of one suspicios Suna agent who was supposedly following them – who turned out to be one of the daimyo's messengers headed for a village in the same direction – there wasn't really anything to worry about.

"Halt. Checkpoint. Names please," the Konoha Southwest Gate sentry asked with an air of authority.

"Ugh, must we really do this? We must have done this hundreds of times already," the blonde chuunin impatiently replied.

"Uhm, pardon our leader's short-temperedness," Ryoko interjected before any harm was done, "but we are Team Yamanaka, back from our mission over at Suna."

The gate sentry rummaged through his list of mission logs, and soon enough he found Team Yamanaka on it.

"Very well, report to the Hokage immediately."

"Thank you very much, Iyori-_san_," Hana softly spoke up. "Well, I suppose we better get on our way then." Immediately, the team left for the headquarters.

Once the three found themselves at the entrance of the administrative building, they made their way up the stairs and headed straight for the Hokage's office.

"_Ohayo gozaimasu_," Shizune, secretary to the famed Tsunade, warmly greeted from behind her desk. "You may want to sit down here first; the Hokage's being updated on some recent turn of events." Shizune fidgeted in her chair. Ino noticed this but decided that it must be the tension rising from three weeks' worth of trouble. As the three were tired from their hurried retreat, they all took a seat.

"Well," Shizune said, standing up from her desk, "you all just wait here until the Godaime calls for you. Don't go in there unless she asks, or else you might get in the heat of things… and trust me, you don't want to be on Hokage-_sama_'s bad side right now."

"_Hai_," Ino agreed, speaking in behalf of her two teammates.

Only a few minutes had gone by when a Konoha investigator came through the waiting room door and headed straight for the Hokage's office, sweating and panting. He was carrying a lot of documents in one folder he kept underneath his arm, with pieces of paper sticking out from its edges.

"You might want to wait for the Godaime to finish her meeting in there," Ino kindly told the investigator. "Everyone in there's quite edgy right now, or at least that's what Shizune told us."

"O don't worry about that," the man replied as courteously as he could, "the Hokage is expecting me." With that, he strode through the door of the debriefing room leading to the Hokage's office, not noticing the document that fell from his folder.

"Hey wait," Ino called out to the man, picking up the piece of paper. "You forgot this!" But it was too late; the man had already entered the Godaime's office. _Boy, he sure was in a rush._

"What is that," Hana curiously asked, pointing to the document Ino held in her hand.

"This? I don't know. It fell off from the folder of that guy who just passed by."

"Well, if it's important," Ryoko added, "why don't you give it to him in there? You just have to excuse yourself for a moment…"

"I guess so." Ino stood up from her chair and entered the debriefing room. _I wonder what's this about?_

As she read the first few lines of the document, Ino was taken aback; she could not believe what she read:

Konoha Intelligence Report

Nara Shikamaru

Top Priority

_Shichigatsu nijû ni nichi_, _dai kyûjû hachi_ _Sensougo Nendai_

_What could this possibly mean?_ Ino began muttering to herself, honestly confused. Her deep thoughts were broken when a loud yell came from the Godaime's office.

"Nara Shikamaru!"

_What's going on! What are the Godaime and the rest talking about in there? And… Nara Shikamaru? Could he still be…_ She was not about to let go of some lead about his supposedly dead friend, and surely she wouldn't want to be left out of this no matter what. Silently, she crept up to the door and nudgeded it slightly open. Ino was quite thankful that the door did not creak at all, but perhaps they were just having a loud conversation in there for them to even notice. As she peered through the door, she saw the investigator, two ANBU intelligence agents, and three other jounin, which she shortly identified to be Azuma, Kakashi, and Kurenai. _What are they doing here? _She leaned hard against the opening, just so she could hear their conversation clearly enough without getting caught… she was an espionage expert, after all.

"Like I was saying, Godaime-_sama_," the investigator calmly resumed, "we have reason to believe that the rather… mysterious deaths of our shinobi and the puzzling failures of many of our foreign missions were caused by an organized movement – conspiracy, if you will."

"And," the Godaime impatiently asked. "Is it the Akatsuki?"

"_Ie_. The Akatsuki have been rather… quiet this past three years. These incidents are way too… easy for them to do and too obvious for us to catch."

"It would be best for us _not_ to underestimate them. They may be planning to divert our attention somewhere else."

"However, Hokage-_sama_, you should find something interesting about all of these incidents…"

The Godaime raised her eyebrow. "Well, what is it then? Don't keep the answers to yourself!"

"Uhm, the shinobi who managed to get back alive from those failed missions reported that they and their fallen comrades had fallen prey to the… uhm…"

"What is it already, Koshiro," the Godaime impatiently demanded.

"Right! They were victims of a… strangulation technique… all cleverly executed, if I do say so myself. They supposedly could not have escaped… they all said that a shadow hand came out of nowhere and almost choked them to death!"

Everyone was alarmed, and even Ino was taken by surprise again. _Is this true? Could it be… him?_

"Well," Koshiro spoke once more, "we all know that Konoha has only one clan that is capable of doing such a thing…"

"Surely," Kakashi intervened, "you don't suggest that the Nara clan betrayed Konoha now, do you?"

Ino realized this as well. _How could he have done it? He's supposed to be… in the afterlife. Could Shikaku-_san_ have done it?_

"I do not wish to jump to conclusions," the investigator replied defensively, "but there are no other clans among the great shinobi villages who have such a capability. This technique is exclusive to the Nara clan of Konoha."

The Hokage thought hard about this little piece of information. She surely was not about to convict one of the country's prized clans… one whose descendant even gave his life in the line of duty.

"I know that there is no way," the Hokage spoke, "for the powers of the Nara clan to be stolen, nor copied, ironic as it may sound… and no, I am not referring to the Sharingan you have, Kakashi."

Everyone paid attention. This could be one of the biggest problems Konoha has yet to face since the death of the well-respected Sandaime.

"However, I could not ignore such a concern, as I assume that you have a lot of evidence to back up such conclusion," Tsunade said, turning to Koshiro, deeply contemplating on his next words. He surely didn't want to be the bearer of bad news, but they all have to face the facts when it's right in the palm of their hands!

"I could guarantee you that the entire Konoha Research Division has analyzed the cases well," he assuringly said. The Hokage consequently thought about it more for the moment.

"Call Shikaku here at once. I want to hear from him first. Kakashi, Asuma, take one ANBU agent here each and bring him here at once. Kurenai, go with Koshiro-_san_ back to the Research Headquarters and collect the rest of his reports. I want you all to consider this as top priority."

"_Hai_," everyone agreed and began leaving the office. Kakashi and Asuma's pairs left by the window, and Kurenai and the investigator headed for the door. As they opened it, they saw a blonde kunoichi stumble into the room. Tsunade let out her kunai at the intruder, but was glad that she evaded it in time as she realized who it was…

"What are you doing here, Yamanaka?"

Ino stood up at once and straightened herself. She was embarrassed at having eavesdropped on their conversation. She heard Kurenai and Koshiro leave the room, as another set of footsteps headed into the office which she was sure belonged to Hana and Ryoko.

"What happened," Ryoko asked, peering into the office. "We heard a noise and thought that-"

"-Your team leader decided to snoop on our _highly_ confidential meeting."

Again, the three was speechless, horrified by the Godaime's tone. Hana and Ryoko were afraid because they knew the Hokage always means business when it came to classified matters, but Ino was simply appalled to have heard of the news.

"Before everything, Godaime-_sama_," Hana began, rummaging through her pocket inside her robe, "we have your reply from Kazekage-_sama_." She handed over the scroll to the Hokage before things got any more tense than they were right at this moment.

"I trust that you did not decide to read what's inside," Tsunade asked.

"No, Hokage-_sama_," the three of them cried in unison. "We should never meddle in the communiqués between the Kages."

"Very good… at least some of you remember the protocols around here…" Tsunade rolled her eyes, not wanting to look at the Yamanaka.

"Hokage-sama, I want to say I'm sor-"

"-I do not wish to listen to any of your excuses, Yamanaka. You know very well that you are not to spy on the confidential meetings of the Hokage, don't you?"

Ino only nodded her head in shame. However, even with the shame and embarrassment she had, she could not bear to put one certain thing past her…

"What did Koshiro-_san_ mean? How is the Nara clan involved in your discussion?"

Hana and Ryoko were surprised. Not only did their leader eavesdrop on their Hokage but even dared to pry into the subject further. Hana wanted to sympathize with Ino, if Nara Shikamaru was indeed involved somehow, but decided to stay where she was instead when she saw Ryoko shaking his head in disapproval.

"This is between me and the rest of the people I have spoken with earlier. You are not involved in this," Tsunade replied authoritatively.

"How could I NOT be involved," Ino cried, "if Shikamaru is possibly involved in it? I didn't hear his name during the last few minutes of your meeting, but you practically screamed it sometime before that! I want to know, Tsunade-_sama_… Please?"

Tsunade ignored her outburst. She motioned for all of them to leave the office at once.

"You guys leave for now," Ino said to her two friends, turning her head to them. "I will wait here and would only leave when the Tsunade explains everything."

Ryoko walked up to the blonde kunoichi and whispered to her, turning her whole body around to face him for a while. "Look Ino, things are already bad as it is. You DON'T want to make the situation worse. She's the Hokage, for crying out loud! I'm sure they'll be able to fix this and tell you about it when they've managed to solve it. It's just NOT our business to interfere!"

"Ryoko," Ino answered him, fuming, "you may not have gotten to know Shikamaru as well as I did so you have no right to tell me to keep my cool when I was one of the reasons he died out there!"

Ryoko could not answer back; he did not know what to say to that. He turned towards the door, defeated. Hana followed him, casting a sympathetic glance towards Ino before exiting the office. Ino, on the other hand, turned around to face the Hokage once more and stubbornly took the seat by the window.

Tsunade began reading the scroll and slowly read through her message. She liked what she was reading less and less with each passing moment from the look on her face. Ino noticed, becoming more and more curious and impatient as well.

"Are you sure you won't leave?"

"I've already told you I'm not leaving until you explain…"

"Suit yourself," Tsunade shook her head as she resigned. "But what you may discover may be more than you would want to know… or _need_ to know. Do not interrupt our conversations, and do keep your reactions to yourself," she warned.

"Fine."

Nearly an hour had past already. Kakashi, Asuma, and both of their ANBU escorts managed to return with Shikaku in tow about twenty minutes ago, and Kurenai and three other investigators this time, led by Koshiro a while ago, had returned only a few moments back, still setting up their materials for a thorough but brief presentation.

Nara Shikaku shook his head in confusion at what all the fuss was about, having been called from a mission briefing he was supposed to be having right now. The shadow jounin scanned the room for some familiar faces, and was a bit surprised to see Ino, his best friend's daughter, in the room with all of these serious people. As Ino turned her head and met Shikaku's stare, she courteously nod him her greeting but was clearly as clueless as he was about this afternoon.

"We're ready, Hokage-_sama_," Koshiro finally began. "We see that Shikaku-_san_ is also with us, good, good. Now that he is here, I think we could all finally reach a common conclusion on the cases we're about to present."

_Conclusion? Cases?_ Ino noted these two words in her head and began to listen to the man's explanations.

"Hokage-_san_, why is the Yamanaka here," he first asked.

"It's all right, Koshiro. I gave her my permission to stay and listen," Hokage replied, sending the other blonde kunoichi a meaningful look.

"Okay, if there's no problem then… I guess I should begin explaining."

Three weeks past, a team of chuunins, lead by Nara-_san_, was sent to the lands bordering the lands of Oto no Kuni, the Country of the Sound, in the north. We lost communication with their team for about two and a half days before they returned, two of his comrades having suffered deep cuts and broken ribs, one lost, while Shikaku returned unscathed."

The man paused for everyone's reaction, but everyone remained silent. It seemed that it would be in everyone's best interests, and more certainly the shadow jounin's, if they all left their questions unaired until the end of the presentation.

"Two days after, Hokage-_sama_ assigned Nara-_san_, Yamanaka-_san_, and Akimichi-_san_ to do some… damage control over at Shokubutsu in the southeast because they began rebelling against the government, razing nearby farming villages. ANBU intelligence uncovered that they were defecting to the Wind Country. While there were no initial problems uncovered in crushing the insurrection, further investigation uncovered that in their return, Shikaku-san suddenly turned against his two comrades, dealing much injury to the both of them." Ino and Kurenai shared a surprised gasp, and the shadow ninja cleared a lump that formed in his throat. He was about to begin explaining when Koshiro continued.

"Yes, the official reports said that they had encountered some agents from Suna along the way, but apparently Shikaku did not know what he was doing, or so he says, and the two forgave him and forgot the whole incident altogether. Shikaku-_san_," the man said, turning to the jounin leaning on the wall by the window, "don't go blaming your friends… they really didn't stand a chance against few, well-planned rounds of sake…" The man gave Shikaku a mischievous grin, as if to mock him.

"That's it? Is there anything else," the Godaime asked so suddenly.

"No, Hokage-_sama_… I'm afraid there's more substantial evidence."

"Evidence to what exactly," Shikaku embarrassedly asked with rage building up inside him.

"Evidence that you, Shikaku-_san_," Koshiro smirked as if he uncovered the greatest conspiracy in the history of Konoha, "either are not the Nara Shikaku of Konoha everyone knows but someone else impersonating him, or are now a double-agent jounin, defected to a man other than Hokage-_sama_ and a village other than Konoha!"

Asuma and Kakashi threw sharp looks at each other with this revelation, as they seemed to be thinking the same thing. Kurenai let out a slight gasp, while Ino cast a terrified look at the shadow jounin by the window.

"_Nani_? How could you even think that," Shikaku defensively bellowed. "Konoha is my home, and I would rather die than betray its people!"

"Really? Then why does this next evidence prove otherwise?"

The room fell silent once again, but this time, everyone was careful and deep in thought. It wasn't everyday that disturbing revelations were reported to the Hokage, and involving one of the country's prized clans at that.

"Well, now that I have everyone's undivided attention," the investigator resumed, "I would like to share with you last week's incident. The information was only shared with members of the ANBU and the Intelligence Division, so I wouldn't be surprised if only some of you knew…"

"Get on with it," the shadow jounin irately said. The investigator continued as if he nothing happened.

"It was six days ago when Shikaku-_san_ was temporarily assigned as sentry to the easternmost outpost with two chuunin under his command. Due to his rather… suspicious activities during the past few weeks, a team of ANBU intelligence specialists were assigned to monitor that outpost… to watch his every move, of course."

Shikaku was increasingly annoyed by knowing that somebody had put him under surveillance, and by this condescending investigator at that!

"Nothing out of the ordinary happened during his first two days of duty," Koshiro continued, "that was until… the outpost was attacked." Kurenai fidgeted with her fingers while Ino squirmed in her chair as what seemed to be the most surprising part was about to be revealed.

"The sentry contingent, composed of two jounins and five chuunins – with Shikaku-_san_ already included, had managed to stave off some fifteen shinobi from a yet unidentified village. The ANBU, having their surveillance duty as priority, stayed in their positions for around two hours. By that time, they had noted that our forces were slowly falling to the power and wit of the enemy, and it was then that they intervened."

"Our strength was quickly wearing thin and you had your men just watch what happened!" Tsunade turned from the man in the center to the enraged one by the window. She had her suspicions about that as well, not having been even informed about an ANBU contingent sent for surveillance, and she was not simply going to let this issue go without considerable punishment. No one dares to move under her watch without permission and gets away with it…

"They had their orders, Shikaku-_san_," Koshiro firmly shot back, unnerved. "Now, as I was saying… while the rest of the sentry team had been fighting, the shadow jounin here was nowhere in sight. Well, my agents had begun to worry at first, but that was before he appeared in an open field two kilometers away. He had called for everyone else to regroup at that moment, and one by one they all came to his side. They huddled together around him for some strategy, until he…" He stopped for a few moments to decide how to carefully say his next words.

"He what? What is it," Kakashi pursued, helping the investigator continue after such a short while.

"…he caught all of them under his _Kagemane no Jutsu_. In a matter of seconds, he followed it up with his Shadow Neck Bind technique."

"What!" Everyone turned to see the outraged Nara clan leader. "I did NOT! How dare you?"

"Do you deny what the ANBU reported?"

"What kind of sick joke is this? I did NOT do anything like that!"

"But you DID," one of the ANBU bodyguards present interrupted. "I was part of the surveillance team that night. If you do not believe me, ask the rest of my team; or better yet, ask even your comrades at sentry duty who survived."

"What? They didn't say anything!"

"What would you expect? You attacked them!"

"I just told you I didn't! Where are those rotten little…"

"Hokage-_sama_," the investigator once again turned to the Godaime who had been silent and contemplative these past few minutes, "his reaction is but utter proof that he had terrorized his subordinates into silence. If his behavior were any clear indicator, I'd say he was even the one who killed Kaji-_san_!"

"I did not! Why you little tricky runt!" At this point, Shikaku lunged at the investigator. He was only a few inches away when Kakashi and Asuma quickly moved to his side and grabbed him by his arms. The shadow jounin flailed his arms wildly, accidentally hitting the other ANBU in the room, but fortunately did only little harm to him. "I DID NOT DO IT!"

"Shikaku-san, this is what the evidence tells us. We cannot cast a blind eye on it."

"Hokage-_sama_, I think we should take more time to investigate this." It was Kakashi's voice that sounded after some awkward three minutes. "While I am not saying that Shikaku is guilty, this is such a grave allegation."

"_Hai_, I agree with Kakashi," Asuma supported. "I do not think that Shikaku would even THINK of turning against his home."

"Thank you," Shikaku thankfully let out. "At least a few people in here do have faith in me." He threw some deadly stares towards Koshiro.

"But need I remind you, Hokage-_sama_," the investigator reiterated, "that as the respected and wise leader of this village, it is also responsibility to serve justice, and not to overlook such evidence."

Ino continued to look from Kakashi to Asuma to Shikaku to the Hokage, and back and forth. She honestly did not know what to make of all these things.

"I believe we have heard more than enough for today," the Godaime said dismissively. She motioned to the team of investigators for them to leave, having been surprised herself. "I will let you all know when I have decided on this issue."

"But Hokage-_sama_-"

"I will have Shikaku closely guarded at all times, thank you very much Koshiro-_san_ for your concern," Tsunade butted. "You have the satisfaction of knowing that he shall stay within Konoha until ordered otherwise."

Shikaku clenched his fist, utterly angry at what he had been accused with. His anger for that man was ever growing, but concentrated on carefully calming himself instead, being thankful that at the very least the Hokage did not have him locked away. He hated being detained. The team of investigators finally managed to finish packing all their equipment and finally left the office.

"Hokage-_sama_," the stressed shadow jounin began, "I do not know what to say, but…"

"I don't believe him… not just yet. Until I have fully confirmed all these things, I still assume that you are loyal to me and the people of this village."

Not really knowing what else to say, Shikaku only let out a simple, "thanks…"

"The two of you," Tsunade ordered to the two ANBU present, "accompany Nara Shikaku back to his home. I expect that Minako is growing ever more suspicious with word that her husband has been called into my office. Take a break for a few days, Shikaku." The man only nodded his thanks, suddenly tired from all his struggling.

"_Hai_, Hokage-_sama_," the two ANBU responded, and escorted the shadow user out the window.

"Asuma, Kakashi," Tsunade imperatively said, "please head over to the Intelligence Division Headquarters and investigate the matter further for me… I suspect they are keeping more information than they are letting on…"

"At once," the two rejoined, and immediately left in a puff of smoke.

"Yamanaka Ino," Tsunade said, turning to the lady who was still lost in her thoughts, unable to make out anything sensible from all that had been made. "Ino-_san_, I believe you have heard too much for one day."

Ino only looked up at the lady smiling sympathetically in front of her, not really recognizing anything else. While everything the investigator did point out a lot of things, it still seemed that nothing made sense… and at least she could feel that she wasn't the only one. Finally, she regained her senses and looked around her. _Where have all the men gone?_

"Hokage-_sama_," Kurenai softly said, "do you mind if I take the young Yamanaka back to her place? She seems a bit… confused, to say the least."

Tsunade nodded her consent, and so Kurenai began to take the blonde chuunin's arm. Ino began to stand from her seat appreciatively, and started to make her way to the door, with Kurenai alongside her. Finally, after what seemed to be hours to her, Tsunade slumped back onto her chair after all was said and done, and began to sort out her papers.

"_Kore wa taihen yakkai desu_…"

* * *

A/N: Does anyone think that this chapter seemed to drone on and on? I apologize if that's the case… I've been trying to get myself to write better, but writer's block and slothful fits get in my way sometimes… but not to worry; I do want to avoid having my stories collect cyber dust. The hard work _does_ pay off in the end.

Well, I've taken a liking for another genre of fictions, so starting today I will have two different stories to worry about. I am planning to trim my story to 15 to 20 stories at the most from the originally planned 25, just to make my plot hopefully meaningful and clear. Anyway, I'm not giving up on ShikaIno soon, so just watch out!

**freelancer2**'s_ Nihonggo 101:_

_Shichigatsu nijû ni nichi_, _Dai kyûjû hachi_ _Sensougo Nendai_ – July 22nd, 98th Year after the War (I'm not really certain with the time, but I'd rather put it as sometime around this.)

_Kore wa taihen yakkai desu_. – This is such a great trouble.

Nihonggo Disclaimer: I'm no expert at the Japanese language, so please don't blame me if you use whatever complicated phrase I use here. The sure ones are those common Japanese phrases I get out from guidebooks. _Sumimasen!_ Please feel free to correct me, in a most constructive manner; I would really appreciate your honest but tactful remarks.

Please review! _Dômo arigatô gozaimasu!_


	10. Chapter 9 : The Best Time of My Life

_Hajime mashite_!

Whew… looking back, I've realized that this is technically the tenth chapter of this story. I see that this is quite the accomplishment for me, as I simply love reading long fanfictions, not writing them. At any case, I think I'm only halfway through the story, but I hope the rest would not seem 'railroaded' in any way. I guess we'll just have to find out later together, won't we?

The last chapter was quite a disappointment, in terms of reviews, in my humble opinion. I would have to attribute this to a dismal previous chapter, I suppose? Well, I guess I haven't been making this story quite romantic than I would've hoped it to be, but I did hope you all would've understood. Anyway, I'm continuing the story and am definitely pushing to finish it by midyear at best, so everyone who's been kind enough to keep reviewing won't be disappointed. You don't know how encouraging your reviews are. Well, as they say, a few good reviews are way better than none at all. Thanks again!

Well, I wouldn't want to hold the excitement back any longer, so here's the ninth chapter of _Memories! _Enjoy, _minna_!

Oh, and just in case those lawyers are again on the prowl… I do not own anything here, just my plot and Ryoko and Hana and a few ingenious shinobi tools I _would _use on anyone who tries to sue me, so there!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Nine : The Best Time of My Life_

"Happy birthday, you beautiful Yamanaka! It's your day!"

Indeed it was such a splendid day, for it was the blonde chuunin's birthday! Outside, leaves were slowly wilting, falling, flying with the soft cooling breeze that was gradually ushering the arrival of winter.

Yesterday, she had fallen melancholy again, and everyone else who knew her back in the academy knew why… It was yet another year where not one of them could enjoy the birthday of long-departed friend, Shikamaru. However, last year, she realized that if he was alive, he would lazily disapprove of her gloom in his best day of the year just because he wasn't around.

_Hn, that _baka_. If he was still around, I suppose he would invite me to watch the clouds with him to make me feel better, that lazy idiot – not that I mind his company… Well, it's not healthy for me thinking about what would've been on this wonderful day. There's just so much fun to have, and I surely can't wait for whatever surprise that big-fore headed Sakura has in store for me this year…_

Ino got up from her bed and fixed it with such speed that would put other kunoichi to shame. She headed straight for the bathroom to shower and do the rest of her morning rituals – fixing her hair, applying make-up and other whatnot she had, amongst other things males did not care much about. After she got out, she grabbed a satin sky blue garment from her wardrobe, like one of those traditional Chinese dresses. She does not really wear them, but she supposed that today will be a really special day for her, and she certainly wouldn't want to look… ordinary.

She prepared for herself some light breakfast composed of some small, steamed potatoes, accompanied by fresh garden salad. After taking her time with her morning repast and attending to the dishes, she grabbed her wallet and headed outside the apartment. As she passed by the living room, she noticed a considerably tall pile of boxes which had already found their way to their gleeful recipient.

_How thoughtful of those guys… Even after three years that we've gone our own separate ways, they still managed to remember…_

Ino headed for the group of gifts just waiting and wanting to be opened. She scanned them one by one, and found the names Akimichi, Uzumaki, Haruno, Sarutobi, Lee, Hyuuga, Inuzuka, and even Yamanaka, among the rest.

Okaasanotoosan_, you remembered! Thank kami that he granted me the best parents one could ever have! I must drop by our home sometime this afternoon. I'm sure they miss me so much… as I do miss them too._

Ino paused for a moment, recalling some wonderful memories. Before she got carried away with her reveries or tempted to mercilessly open her gifts, she immediately tore herself away from the packages, telling herself that she could enjoy her time tonight opening them before she retired to bed.

Pleased with how the day was progressing, Ino left her apartment. Without having anything planned then, she headed for the park, looking forward to basking in the beauty of the autumn flowers blooming amidst the sea of red and orange leaves and the soothing tranquility of the breath-taking river. When she got there, she took a seat on one of the vacant benches. Ino looked around her and noticed the couples giggling and teasing one another everywhere she turned. She deeply sighed… while she had to admit that it was fun to go about doing things on your own, she couldn't help but feel… envious.

"What's a fine lady like yourself doing all alone in the chilly park this fine autumn day?"

Ino turned around, and surprised to find a guy whom she sized up to be nearly half a foot taller than her, bearing quite a toned torso. He wore a neat navy blue shirt underneath a loose vest which, Ino thought, resembled Konoha's chuunin vest. He held his raven hair back with a bandana, but some strands of his hair still stubbornly stuck out from various places. He wore a probing but quite friendly look on his face, which she noticed was a bit hardened by the roughness of life… Without a doubt, Ino noted, this man is a shinobi, but one who she had never seen before. And that was saying a lot, considering that she was assigned to a lot of teams as a novice chuunin before she was appointed to lead Ryoko and Hana.

"_Ano_, do I have something on my face?" asked the guy.

Ino, realizing herself staring at him for so long, snapped back to reality and answered a soft, "_Gomen-nasai_…"

"It's alright," he warmly replied. "I just thought that someone must've paralyzed you or something…"

"No, no… Sorry."

They fell into silence. For some unknown reason, Ino blushed and turned her head away from him to hide her embarrassment. (**A/N**: _evades a piece of tomato from some crazed ShikaIno fans_ sticks out his tongue)

"Well?"

"Well what?" Ino replied, clueless.

"What are you doing here by yourself?"

"Oh," Ino answered, remembering what he asked her. "I just wanted to take some time off from my daily work, but did not really have anything planned. I thought of stopping by this place to enjoy the morning. The place is really nice and relaxing…"

"Well, what do you know," said the guy nostalgically turning to face the scenery, "it is." Ino blushed again.

"But you know what," he continued, "I don't think you're here just for that. Seeing as you're so well-dressed and simply look too stunning for a simple walk in the park, I think today's quite a special day for you… your birthday, perhaps?"

Ino turned around to face him, and scanned him from head to toe before answering, "How very intuitive of you, for an outsider…"

The guy flinched slightly, much to the blonde's satisfaction. He quickly collected himself and spoke again.

"Well, happy birthday, then! I may not be from here, but I do know my way around, and believe me, I have permission to be here. I have the week to myself, and decided to take a look around. I just so happened to be walking around when you captured my eye…"

The shinobi gave Ino a warm smile, and she could not help but blush again as he did so. (**A/N: **_evades yet another tomato_ Hey, cut that out!)

"Well," Ino softly began, being more daring than she herself would've believed, "since you're not from this village, why don't I show you around?"

"As I've said before," the guy interrupted her, accompanied by a respectful smile, "I already know my way around, so you really don't need to trouble yourself with it."

The Yamanaka let out a soft, "oh," and started to turn her back on him when he quickly grabbed her by the hand.

"But… you're simply too dazzling to put down. Seeing as this is supposedly your best day in the year…" Ino turned to him hopefully, although not really knowing what to expect. "Why don't I take you around town today and give you the best birthday you would ever remember?"

Ino was stunned, to say the least. While she did hope that she could spend some time with him and get to know him better, she would not have imagined in her wildest dreams that she would be spending time with such a… charming shinobi.

The guy offered her arm to Ino, who more than willingly took it. They started to make their way out of the park and took their time strolling down the main street. He was growing increasingly interested in the blonde, and kindly asked her about herself and her friends and the town, all of which she eagerly answered, vividly describing every detail.

They had walked and talked for what seemed to be an hour, and suddenly stopped in front of a small shop. Ino realized the break in their stroll and looked at the place they had arrived at.

"The Yamanaka Flower Shop?" inquired a surprised Ino.

"Well, a birthday is not really special without any flowers. I believe they prepare the best flowers here, don't they? I was thinking of giving you some nice ones before we went on our escapade around town…"

She reddened at his thoughtfulness, but turned to her side before he caught her doing so. She found herself doing that a lot this morning.

"Yes, they do. Thanks."

"No problem," he said as he opened the door for her and motioned for her to wait on the seat by the door. "Stay here for a moment while I talk to the lady and have your flowers ready."

Ino nodded, realizing that it would be best not to be seen by her mother being with this complete stranger. She peeked at the counter way up front from behind the bucketful of roses near her. Just as she thought, her mother was tending the shop today, and she was accommodating her wonderful customer. The guy turned around to see if she was looking at him, and found her peeping at him. When she was spotted, she quickly moved back to her seat, slightly embarrassed and ashamed of being caught considering that she was an espionage specialist.

It was only a short while before the guy returned, whose name, she realized, was still unknown to her. _I don't want to ruin this wonderful day… he might get alienated all at once. I'll just ask him later after our 'adventures'._

"Happy birthday," he greeted, handing Ino her bouquet of flowers with care. "It isn't much, but I did try my best to pick out the most wonderful ones around, in my humble opinion… for you on your special day, of course." He gave her a lopsided grin. She took the entirely white bunch into her arms, and she felt delighted, for a lack of better word.

"Thanks… Oh, a yuri, or spider lily, accompanied by two magnolias and accented by three anemones… you must know your flowers, don't you?"

"Uh," her companion stuttered, completely embarrassed. "Not really. I just thought they seemed wonderful… Why, what do you mean?"

"Well, whenever a person gives someone else a gift, he usually uses flowers to represent what he thinks of the person receiving them," Ino answered matter-of-factly. "Yuri here means 'sweet', magnolia means 'natural', and white anemones mean 'sincere'. I didn't know you thought all that about me…"

"Really?" he answered unbelievingly. "To be honest, I didn't know that…"

"If anything, I'd say that I'd give the same flowers to describe you…"

"No need," he immediately blurted. "Today's your birthday, not mine."

"_Dômo arigatô gozaimasu!_" (**A/N:** No, this is not yet the end of the chapter.)

The shinobi just smiled back, and once again held out his arm for her. She thoughtfully took it and headed outside the shop into the bright day… and indeed it was becoming brighter and brighter by the moment. The long but comfortable silence they experienced amidst the bustle in the streets was interrupted by a hungry Ino.

"I think we should eat. Why don't we have some lunch before we continue?"

"Oh, alright. Do you know of a wonderful place to dine in?"

"Well, there's this relatively new restaurant near the park, and it has a nice view of it from the terrace. It's wonderful in the evenings, but it's just as breathtaking during this time of the day as well. They mainly serve foreign food there, however, so I don't know if you would like them…"

"That would be nice, just the same. I'm sure the food would still taste magnificently as long as I see that you're enjoying yourself…"

Ino just giggled at his words to keep herself from blushing some more, and began steering him to the restaurant.

Ino felt really lucky to have been assigned the table for two just by the railing of the terrace overlooking the park, though she did suspect that it had something to do with his prince charming – as she began to think of him – arguing with the attendant just as they entered the eating place.

Ino had baked potatoes marinated in a special sweet sauce, and a side dish of garden salad. Her partner, on the other hand, ordered some sushi with mackerel – which he was overjoyed to find available in the joint – and some garden salad mainly accentuated by kelp.

"I thought you said they served foreign food here? They have just as many of the good local stuff in this place!"

"Well, I'm glad they have something to your liking, because the last time I ate here, all they served was nothing but bread… Can you imagine eating bread here for lunch?" Ino joked.

"For some reason," the guy said in a suddenly serious tone, "I miss this place – your village, though I can't seem to place my finger on it…"

He gazed over into the park, whose majority of trees was now devoid of foliage. He could not help it, but Ino stared at him, trying to figure out what he was thinking.

"Imagine that… Konoha, the Leaf Village, now laden with trees devoid of all sorts of leaves…"

Ino chuckled at his joke, as he remained to be serious at the moment. "Well, not all our trees shed their leaves in the autumn, you know. We have a myriad of coniferous trees around."

"Oh," the guy answered, having returned from his state of reverie, "I forgot that. Never mind, let's finish the rest of our lunch now, shall we?" Ino nodded her agreement, and they ate the remainder of their meal in comfortable silence.

The rest of the time afterwards was spent on walking around the village, from the academy to the training grounds, to the memorial, to the village stadium, and even to the Administrative Building. Truth be told, Ino was really having the time of her life, sharing so many stories with this newfound friend eagerly absorbed with her every word.

The two of them did chance to come across some of Ino's friends. Ino greeted Sakura – who gave her an excited but suspicious look regarding her escort – on their way to the academy. Both met Chouji – who examined this guy from head to foot – near the training grounds. They saw Kakashi – who briefly observed Ino's companion from head to foot – visiting the memorial. The two surprised a very busy Kurenai – who wore quite a strange expression on her face as she faced the guy before looking at Ino just as peculiarly. Ino did plan on bringing him inside headquarters, but as she began to be troubled the weird looks everyone else was giving them, either out of disappointment, jealousy, distrust – she really couldn't tell – she supposed he wouldn't feel comfortable at all.

Well, through all that, Ino could not feel doubtful… what could be so suspicious about this person who's been simply considerate to her all day? Or perhaps it was because it was her birthday today, and that they wanted her to worry so much about their looks so she would not care about the surprise they had in store for her… But was Kakashi part of this?

While Ino was busy with her musings, her companion did have his share of problems along the way. He was thankful that she was too preoccupied with her thoughts to notice him wincing, his headache slowly building with each of the places they visited, climaxing each time they met one of Ino's acquaintances. Apparently, he had been worried about his bursts of pain when something stopped him from rubbing his temples.

"Are you alright?" asked Ino, deeply concerned. She grabbed his hands away from his head and began to massage his temples with her own dainty fingers.

"_Ano_… it's nothing, really. Just a slight headache I've been having today…" the guy honestly replied, not wanting to lose her trust in him. He removed her hands from him gently, but somehow he did not really want to.

"Are you sure?" the blonde furthered. "You want to take a breather right now?"

"Oh, yes, … that would be nice," he thanked. "I think a breath of fresh air back at the park would be very helpful."

They took their time making their way back to the park. The sun was beginning to set, and the cooler winds once again made the impending coming of winter felt. Ino began to shiver, but the shinobi noticed, so he more than willingly handed her his vest, even if it did not provide much warmth. She did not really want to take it at his expense, but he was quite persistent about it and did not want anything else other than to have her wear it. She took it and thanked him meekly by giving him a brief hug.

The two of them reached the bench they first met at that fateful morning. Ino took a seat, while her escort just moved over to the edge of the river, taking in calming breaths which, she was relieved to find, helped him thoroughly relax.

He turned around and faced Ino. With the setting sun shining from behind him, the blonde chuunin seemed to glisten with the amber rays of the sun shining on her.

Ino, having really enjoyed a wonderful birthday, could not think of anything more to ask for. She could not even begin to thank him enough for all the things he did that day. She noticed something rustle against her feet as she looked down and sighted a small pansy. She smiled at having this little flower and thought of how to perfectly express her gratitude.

So, she picked the flower, stood up, walked to her charming escort for the day, and handed the pansy to him. He was surprised at this gesture, and thoughtfully raised an eyebrow to her as he had no clue what she meant.

"What?" Ino inquired. "It's a pansy…"

"I know what a pansy is… But why a pansy?"

"For your information," Ino started to explain in her sort of know-it-all tone, "people give pansies stand for 'thoughtful and caring'… and I just wanted you to know that you are that kind of person."

The man blushed at her words and tried to look away a bit, but abstained as she continued.

"Thanks. You have made my birthday this year truly special." They shared some happy moments in silence. Eventually, the partly flustered shinobi spoke up again.

"Well, I know I should've done this first, but," the man stuttered, but continued with every ounce of courage he could muster, "would you care to tell me your name?"

Ino blushed for the umpteenth time that day, and immediately remembered that neither of them had even introduced himself to the other. Just as she was about to speak, she noticed a nice, fluffy brown cat stroking itself against her escort's legs.

"Oh, what a nice cat… She seems to like you."

"_Ano_, that's because that's our team cat, Neko. She comes to each one of us when we need to reassemble our team."

"Oh… quite unconventional, for a shinobi team…"

"Well, that's not even the half of it," the guy admitted. "Anyway, I wish I could stay longer, but I really need to go. I hope you enjoyed my company, in as much as I enjoyed yours… I sincerely mean that…"

Just as he began to walk away with his cat, his lady spoke up. "Ino."

"What?"

"My name. It's Ino… Yamanaka Ino. Would you care to tell me yours? Will you still stay around the village for a while longer?"

The man turned his face to the side, casting a very sad look and bearing a faraway look in his eyes. "Sorry… I did have the week to myself, but today's my last day here. By the look of things, we would be leaving soon."

"Oh…" Ino replied, disheartened. How could such a nice guy enter her life all of a sudden only to leave so soon afterwards? She tried her best not to look away. As she stared at him, she noticed that a fresh wave of migraine attacks assaulted him once again. He was beginning to scrunch his face and softly massaged his aching temples.

"I'd better leave," he said, still wincing. He began to leap into the distance before continuing, smiling back to her as he increased the distance between them, "Just so you'd know, my name…"

Ino looked up, hopeful and joyful to at least have the pleasure of knowing the name of the man who just presented her with the best birthday experience ever.

"…everyone calls me by the name Shikamaru… Nara Shikamaru."

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A/N: The return of our favorite shinobi! Hah, I bet you didn't see that one coming. Now that's what I call a birth-date. Did you guess it was him midway into the chapter? If you know Shikamaru, you would've recognized the clues I've been giving away.

Was it too fluffy for your own comfort? Too bland? Too dilly-dally? Don't like how things are turning out, and the direction this story is taking? Well, I'm not really the master of fluff, but I hope I managed to flesh out my own style effectively.

I thought that I better give romance a chance this time around, though I can't say that I'll be lingering around this idea too long. Stick around for the plot development, and I hope things are turning better and better for you dear readers with each chapter.

By the way, due to a new college term and fresh thesis demands, I'd be irregularly updating this story. I know, I know, it's me and my despicable semi-hiatus states. Please bear with me; in as much as it pains me to not update ever so frequently, I do need to attend to some other stuff in the real world as well. I hope you all understand.

Liked it? Hated it? Share your comments in your review! _Dômo arigatô gozaimasu!_


	11. Chapter 10 : Restless

_はじめ　まして 。_

I hope I got that greeting "_Hajime mashite._" right in Hiragana.

Anyway, for those who still haven't noticed it yet , I'm following the Far East Asian naming convention, so last names precede their given names. When I say "Nara Shikamaru", I mean "Nara" is his last name while "Shikamaru" is his given name. For your information.

I know, I know… It's been months since I last updated, and I apologize to you all… big time! I hope this much-awaited chapter won't disappoint, but I suppose it's all up to you now, isn't it. Whatever you may think of this, please don't forget to review, okay? Thanks!

Just to answer some of my reviewers:

**someone** – First off, your unsigned name is quite clever… I'm just grateful that there's 'someone' looking out for updates! Anyhow, sorry for the mishap. It's really 'Hana'. I've reloaded the chapter to correct the errors. Also, Ino indeed thought that Suna only recruited male Kazekage successors, much to her surprise. That is why I tried to be careful in making Ino think the Kazekage was a male at first, only to realize that the 'he' was a 'she' when Temari uncovered her robes. Thanks for asking; I hope that clarifies things a bit.

**Hikari-03 **– Haha! Actually, I've thought of making him appear somewhere else later, but I can't do that if this story is supposedly Shikamaru-centric now, can I? Do you think he would be better changing part of his personality, or keep it as a whole? I always thought he could use some sort of personality adjustment, although I want to keep the cool him intact, if you know what I mean. I'm glad you find it exciting.

Thanks a bunch! Here, have some cyber-sushi, courtesy of me, of course!

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Ten : Restless_

Konoha Administrative HQ

"And so for this mission…"

The mission jounin who was giving the briefing continued to discuss the details for this week's missions, but Ino wasn't really paying attention. The only words that registered in her brain every now and then were 'man', 'black', and 'vest'. Now that she thought about it, that man – if he was indeed the person she thought he was – never got his vest back from her before he rushed back to his assignment.

_Ino you _baka! _Why didn't you go after him?_

"Ino…"

_Then again, was he even telling me the truth? Could it be that he's really…_

"Ino…"

_He can't be… he just… can't possibly… but could he have…_

"INO!"

"_Hai!_" The blonde yelled in surprise as she was jolted back to reality and stood from her seat. As she looked around, she discovered that she was deep into her one of her reveries yet again. Everyone else was giving her such a reprimanding look, so she blushed with embarrassment and apologized to everyone else as took her seat once more.

"Yamanaka-_san_," Ryoko called to her from one side, "are you alright? Haruno-_san_ had been calling out your name three times now but you did not seem to notice. You seem to be out of it lately… are you alright?"

"_Nandemonai_, it was nothing… I guess I've been feeling a bit more tired than usual…"

Ino sunk into her seat a bit lower and nodded an "I'm OK" to Sakura who was seated at the other side of the room.

"Is something the matter with Yamanaka-_san_," Ryoko asked Hana in a low whisper. Hana could not pinpoint what was exactly wrong but indeed felt that something was amiss. "We haven't been to any missions that are higher than class C lately, so what could be stressing her?"

"That's all for now," concluded the mission jounin. "Dismissed."

§

Everyone who had been present at the briefing filed out of the headquarters. While others were casually marching out of the building, only three were slowly making their way outside… one blonde kunoichi, in particular.

"Yama-"

"INO!" It was Sakura yet again, and she was more than worried this time around. She was making her way towards her distressed best friend, not intending to back away until she found out exactly what was bothering the blonde.

"Sakura! How are you? What's up," the Yamanaka answered in reply as she attempted to put on a cheerful smile.

"How am _I_? The question we should be answering is, 'How are _you_?' What was all that commotion back there about? Are you feeling alright?"

"Sakura… Could we please not talk about it? I've had my dose of embarrassment today already so could we please just drop it?"

The pink-haired kunoichi stepped back a bit and motioned for Ryoko and Hana to take some time off and let her handle things for the moment. The two nodded their sincerest thanks and meandered towards the opposite direction.

"No," Sakura sternly answered as she caught up with her distressed best friend. "Something's obviously upset you and I'm not about to let you handle it on your own."

"But I don't WANT your help," Ino yelled, but as she realized what she said, she added, more gently this time, "…at least, not for _this_ particular problem. I just _have _to handle this one on my own."

"Are you sure?" her friend ventured cautiously after a few moments. Ino nodded, begging with her eyes.

"Well," Sakura sighed in resignation as Ino turned away, "if that's what you want, then I'll leave you be. However," she stressed as she made Ino turn around to look at her, "I'll always be around to listen to what you have to say, alright? We're best friends, after all…"

"Okay," Ino answered guiltily. "Thanks. You're the best."

_I'm sorry, Sakura, but there's just no way that I can tell anybody about this, not even you… at least, not until I myself have confirmed my suspicions. I can't afford the entire village going after _his _neck, not after all that I've been through… not after all that he's been through… probably._

Still plagued by her own worries, Ino headed back to her own apartment.

At the Konoha Medical Laboratory

"I'm sorry I had to call you away from your leisure time…" Sakura began to speak just as she was mixing herbal extracts and as her guests arrived by the door.

"_Ie_, I felt that this was really important," a mature male voice echoed.

"It's alright, Haruno-_san_," a gentle female voice responded, "we both felt worried as well."

"Very well then, Chouji, Ryoko-_kun_, Hana-_chan_," Sakura said in a business-like tone as she washed her hands and turned to her guests, "I feel that you sense something is amiss with Ino. I know that you're just as worried as I am, perhaps even more. I've had a short talk with her this morning, but she says that it's something she needs to handle alone. Do you have any ideas about what could possibly be troubling her?"

The four kept silent for a moment, putting together bits and pieces of clues they might have missed about the troubled blonde's problem.

"Well," Ryoko began, "like what Hana and I have been discussing this morning, Yamanaka-_san _and the two of us haven't been to any missions that are higher than class C."

"That crosses out missions as the source of her stress," Hana concurred.

"Ino's still in good shape, I'd have to say," Chouji commented, albeit a bit hesitatingly, "so I don't think that her looks or figure would be what's bothering her."

"Let's take a look at the past few days… when has she been acting like this?"

"Looking back," Ryoko spoke up, "I'd have to say that it was around the 29th of September, though I haven't gotten to see her around a week prior to that."

"I visited her apartment on the 27th," Hana pursued, "but I didn't manage to catch her there. The elderly neighbors did mention, however, that her spirits were so low that she had been failing to give them their daily share of flowers and warm greetings in the mornings."

"Now that I think about it," Chouji blurted as he perked up, "I managed to see Ino visiting the village grave memorial on the 25th. I had to rush off to a mission in the north, but I thought it was rather unusual for her to visit the site just days after-"

"-HER OWN BIRTHDAY!" the four chorused. At last, they felt they were getting somewhere.

"But what could've happened on her birthday," Ryoko almost immediately.

"Well, we can count on her being very preoccupied with her gifts, because she enjoys her time going through each and every one of them," Chouji supplied.

"Then could she have had a _really _bad present this year?" asked Hana.

"If it has something to do with that _baka _Naruto," Sakura fumed, her ire slowly rising, "I'm going to make sure he-"

"-I'm sure that he's got her a nice present this year," Chouji nervously interrupted. "I should know; I helped him find a decent gift."

"Well, I'm glad that he's at the very least _considered _what Ino would like to receive, for once…"

"Anyway…" Ryoko apprehensively butted in, "if it _does _happen to be related with one of her presents, what could have possibly made her so upset these days? It's not like there's anything that anyone could have given that would have disturbed her so much…"

The room was filled with silence, but Sakura and Chouji were exchanging knowing stares with each other. Hana noticed their discreet gazes, but Ryoko never was as sharp when it came to these things.

As Hana was about to speak up, a bird had gone crying from outside the building, its sound entering through the greenhouse vents and echoing throughout the shelter.

"You know what that means, don't you, Sakura?"

"I do, Chouji. Well, I don't want to leave Ino be with her problems, but I guess Hokage-_sama _has more urgent business she wants us to deal with. Let's end this meeting of ours for now."

"_Hai_," Ryoko and Hana agreed in unison as the four of them immediately headed for the assembly.

Back at the Administrative Headquarters

_Where is she? She's rarely tardy for assemblies, and she comes about thirty minutes ahead of time when she knows a meeting's _this_ important!_

"Calm down, Sakura," the rotund chuunin whispered as they were waiting inside the hall with so many other shinobi. "She may be distressed right now, but she never forgets her duties and responsibilities. She'll arrive soon enough."

"I just hope you are right, Chouji-_san_," Ryoko sighed wearily.

The blonde, however, was still nowhere to be found even as the hall was slowly getting packed with various shinobi from all the different clans. The heads of the Hyuugas were already gathered up front, the Kibas and Aburames were talking at one side of the hall, while the Yamanakas and Akimichis – Chouji and Ino not with them right now, of course – were having their own conversations over at the other side.

The same mission jounin from that morning appeared in front of them all, carrying a clipboard with various files and photos. The atmosphere immediately grew tense, and all sort of discussions was halted as the Hokage herself, accompanied by none other than Shizune, made her way just behind the platform.

Just as the jounin was about to speak, however, a rather panting Yamanaka Ino drenched down to her inner clothes managed to make it. She looked around, spotted Sakura – who turned to look back at her worriedly – and mouthed a little "Just made it." her way with a small and brief smile. Ino did not make her way towards them, however, and headed for her father who was just as worried as the four but decided to pay attention to the announcement first.

"We have just received word from our reconnaissance agents from Sunagakure…"

At that point, everyone held their breaths, expecting that Kaze no Kuni have yet again declared hostilities with Hokuni. It wasn't really anything new, but then again they must always be on their guard. The jounin sighed a heavy breath before he continued.

"…Sunagakure has fallen… and so has the government of Kaze no Kuni."

As expected, various cries as to how such a thing could happen so suddenly or which nation had assaulted a village second only to Konohagakure or whether some other nation had fallen as well all mixed together in the air, bringing utter confusion to an increasingly restive assembly.

"If I may have everyone's attention now…"

The jounin in front was obviously trying his hardest to get the attention of all that were gathered there, but alas everyone was still preoccupied with formulating their own theories and questions.

"_Ano…_ I'm here to clarify some matters regarding…"

Unfortunately, no one was still paying attention, and it seems that the jounin had completely given up at this point.

"SILENCE!" came Tsunade-_sama_'s booming voice. Her scream echoed throughout the hall as she grew impatient of everyone's restlessness, and from there on out she took over the assembly.

"I understand your confusion. 'Who did it?' 'How is this possible?' 'Could we be next?'" That last question struck them all as it was something even harder to imagine… Then again, if Sunagakure would fall so easily just like that, who is to say that the same won't happen to Konohagakure?

"As of the moment, we are still gathering intelligence reports from all the shinobi dispatched to the Wind Country, but I am now recalling most of them back to our borders to secure our land. Since we have very little useful information right now regarding the development of the situation at Suna, we are going to fortify our village's defenses, bolster our forces in the southwestern districts of our country, and, more importantly, gather intelligence information to give us a more detailed description of the Wind Country's state of affairs."

After those statements, Ino felt that her team was once again to be assigned to another mission very soon. She glanced towards her teammates Ryoko and Hana who both nodded their acknowledgement of their impending reconnaissance operation.

"Therefore, all intelligence units are to immediately report to the briefing room after this assembly, while all tactical and defense forces are to gather over at the stadium to await orders for mobilization…"

Everyone was quiet. They were expecting more details about the political turmoil as they couldn't help but feel anxious and restless.

"I understand that you are tired of war after war," Tsunade continued after noting their silence, speaking in a much calmer tone this time around. "Just when we have begun to rebuild our village back to normal after only a few years, we face yet another conflict, one that leaves you all just as confused and weary as I am.

"Moreover, some of you may not still be as forgiving as the others for what shinobi of the Sand had done to us in the past. However, we are shinobi of the Leaf, and I believe that all the Hokages before me would agree that we must _never _desert our neighbors in their time of need, even those who have been our enemies in the past.

"Let us not let our fears and anxieties overwhelm us! Instead of worrying, let us use our time and efforts wisely to channel these apprehensions and turn them into something we could fight with! So let us not dilly dally on things such as these right now; it is _my _duty to you all, as Hokage, to do everything that I can to keep our village strong and standing! I hope you understand my sentiments…"

Yet another moment of silence filled the hall. This time, however, all the anxiety and restlessness was replaced with courage and resolve.

"I take it that everyone is with me… Now everyone, move out!"

A strong "_Hai!_" resounded as everyone marched out of their places and reported to their respective posts. Sakura and Chouji bade their farewells to each other as they gave one good look towards Ino before parting ways. Ino, on the other hand, called over Ryoko and Hana and instructed them to prepare their gear and wait for her outside the entrance of the building after the meeting. After all that was finally done, the Yamanaka headed for the briefing room.

"Listen up," the rather embarrassed jounin from earlier said as everyone else in the reconnaissance division gathered. "The Hokage has already given you a very short glimpse of what had transpired in Kaze no Kuni in the last 36 hours, so I'm here to brief you about the next step you're supposed to take…

"All reconnaissance teams are to depart from Konoha within the hour. You shall head towards the southwestern border where we have already set up an intelligence outpost. Once you arrive, you should immediately report to the shinobi in charge of the operations in the meantime and get further orders from him. Understood?"

The team leaders sounded their agreement as various lists of equipments to bring for this task were handed out to each of them. Ino had some last-minute consultation with the jounin in charge of the briefing before she stepped out of the room and met with her team resting beneath the cherry blossom tree.

"Yamanaka-_san_," Ryoko began as he called out to his leader. "So, what are we supposed to do?"

"We're headed to the Wind Country border. I presume that you have your desert outfits packed?"

"_Hai_. We're geared up and ready to go," replied an ever-prepared Hana rather nonchalantly. "You only have to say the word, Yamanaka-_san_."

"Alright. But before we go, let's take a detour to the armory first and get all the additional equipment on this list… they figured that they'd need us to bring as much weaponry as we can to the defense forces over at the border. Come on."

In a matter of seconds, they managed to reach the armory. Unfortunately, there are quite a number of shinobi who were all lined up to receive their equipment as well. The three of them lined up at the end of the queue for reconnaissance personnel, but they were still a long ways from the front.

"You know what," the blonde kunoichi suddenly said, "I still have a few things to prepare for the mission. Rather than waste my time waiting here, I want you to grab the things on this list for me and then meet me at the western gate. I'll be there in about half an hour, alright?"

"_Hai_," Ryoko and Hana answered simultaneously, and so the Yamanaka leaped away from the armory.

About twenty minutes later, Ino appeared at the southern gate, carrying a number of various scrolls and other small equipment. As she slowly removed some of the materials loosely tied to her waist, Ryoko and Hana stood from the bench with the former carrying a much bigger pack full of weapons than the latter.

"Are you all set?" asked Hana.

"Guys, I'm sorry that I was late, but unfortunately Hinata said that Sakura was calling for me. She didn't tell me what it was about, but if it was something so important then I guess I can't let it wait."

"Then we'll wait for you right here," Ryoko offered.

"No, don't wait for me," the blonde interjected. "Everyone else is already scrambling out of the village and I can't afford to delay this team any longer than I have. Just go ahead and I'll catch up with you at the outpost."

"But if you aren't going in the meantime, then there's no use in us going ahead of you anyway, seeing as you're supposed to be the one to report to the head of operations at the outpost for the briefing. And at any rate, I don't think Haruno-_san_ would take long seeing as you're needed elsewhere."

"NO!"

Ryoko and Hana were taken aback as Ino realized her sudden outburst.

"I mean, no," Ino said, much softer and calmer this time, "you _have_ to go ahead of me. If you don't, then… you're never going to hear the end of it from me when I get there, understood?"

The two exchanged shocked and confused glances before they gave their leader their word.

"Good. Now take care of yourselves, alright," bid the blonde.

"It's not like we're not going to meet again, Yamanaka-_san_," Ryoko attempted lightheartedly.

"I mean it, Ryoko-_san_, Hana-_chan_," Ino said rather seriously. "Take care."

"Alright, Yamanaka-_san_," Hana replied for the two of them, "we give you our word. Take care of yourself, too."

"I will, don't worry… I will."

And with that, Ino sprinted away from the gate and back towards the village center. As she took off, Ryoko whispered to his companion, "I hope she's alright… it's been a long while since she was _that _serious."

"I know," sighed Hana in agreement. "I just hope that Haruno-san could help her before we engage in what could be our team's – no, our village's biggest mission yet."

* * *

A/N: I realized that it was highly unusual for Japanese to address each other with –_kun_, -_san_, or –_chan_ appended to their given names, so I decided to append it to their last names. Since I haven't told you whether Ryoko or Hana were given or last names, let's just say those are their last names.

My undergraduate studies are now finally over! I now have graduation to look forward to, but I still have some work to do before I'm ready for the working world. At any rate, I wish to dole out some two or three more chapters before our favorite pair's birthdates (i.e. September 22 and 23), so please review so that I could get feedback and improve the story.

Liked it? Hated it? Share your comments in your review! _Dômo arigatô gozaimasu!_


	12. Chapter 11 : Wheels Are Turning

_はじめ　まして　。_

For my update reviewers:

**Keele-san** – Talk about reading in one sitting… I'm glad you think so, because it is not an easy job for any fanfic writer to preserve the character's original personalities. I hope your detective skills don't spoil too much of the plot for yourself because the suspense is part of the excitement. I hope this chapter won't disappoint!

**faLLen-dreamz **– This chapter would answer your question. I hope it gets you riled up for the development!

**star's dreams **– Did you happen to read my story before using a different username? Because it seems this was the first time you reviewed. I'm glad you're still following this story even though I was out for a long while… I hope you enjoy!

_Domo_! I wish to hand all who have read and reviewed my last update some cyber-maki, courtesy of me! _Banzai_!

* * *

**Memories**

Troubles of a Lazy Shinobi

_Chapter Eleven : Wheels Are Turning_

At the Fire-Wind Country Border

"Yamanaka-_san_ sure is taking quite a while, don't you think so," a restless dark-haired chuunin was commenting as he was rummaging through his pack for the umpteenth time.

"Ryoko-_san_, you've been asking me that for the past four hours," replied his companion, sitting only a few feet away. "Can't you have a little more faith in her? She's our leader, after all…"

"I can't help it, Hana-_chan_… I still don't know if she's alright."

"Then you have no faith in Sakura-_san_, perhaps?"

"No, no! That's not what I meant! Sakura-_san_ is-"

"-I know you place Sakura-_san_ in high regard, Ryoko-_san_… I was just kidding. You are just too worried, that's all. Now _I'm _getting worried that you're getting so anxious… It's not healthy, you know…"

The shinobi turned around, a bit surprised. Without meaning to, Ryoko could not help but feel a slight blush creeping up his cheeks.

"Ryoko-_san_," came the question that shook him back to reality.

"Yes?"

"Your face is red all over… Are you sure you're feeling alright?"

"_Nandemonai_! Never mind that," Ryoko cried, embarrassed. "You should learn not to strain yourself too, you know…"

"Huh?"

"Ah! Never mind that… I better get going now," the still self-conscious shinobi had said as he began to stand. "I'd better explain the situation to the outpost commander so we won't get scolded… at least, not that much, I hope…"

With that, Ryoko headed towards the main tent for an update. Hana, in the meantime, was thinking over how strange Ryoko had just acted but thought little of it and decided to start checking through their equipment.

Just as Hana was putting back all the sets of kunais and scrolls back into different holsters, sound of a figure's footsteps was heard rustling against the branches of the trees in the darkness. Hana grabbed a pair of kunai with her hands and set her back against the nearest tall tree.

A kunoichi was spotted to have landed just nearby a small bush, and Hana immediately leapt into action. The hooded ninja, alarmed, bounded away nimbly and turned around to face her assailant.

"Hana-_chan_?"

The familiar voice did not register at first. Hana raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

"Hana-_chan_! Wait, it's me," the newcomer pleaded as she removed her hood.

"Sakura-_san_?" the kunoichi on the offensive asked unbelievingly as she lowered her weapons immediately and bowed.

"There's no need for that. If anything, I must commend you for always being on the alert, especially in times like these."

"I am honored by your praise, Sakura-_san_," Hana began apologetically, "but still… it was rude of me, turning on you like that without warning."

"Never mind that now. At any rate, how are the operations from this end proceeding? Tsunade-_sama _sent me to check up on things."

"Ah! Everyone's on edge but still dutifully tending to their responsibilities. I believe that a few teams have already been dispatched to the nearby Wind Country villages bordering our nation, but none of them have reported back yet."

"That is to be expected," the pink-haired nin commented, "but if we are to act soon, we must be able to gather as much information in the soonest possible time."

"We understand that, Sakura-_san_, but even we reconnaissance teams are having problems trying to cover all the areas, seeing that we are a bit strained in terms of resources…"

"Well, that can't be helped, I suppose. In times like these, we must stretch all our supplies until the logistical teams arrive."

Sakura began to scout the area, sweeping her eyes over the scene beset by darkness occasionally dotted by campfires, movement among the shinobi, and a few tents here and there.

"Why don't we head to the main tent for now, Hana-_chan_? I need to get a better idea of this outpost's current status."

The two of them began to make their way towards the tent of the chief of outpost operations, but their trip was interrupted by a commotion developing at the assembly area.

"What happened?"

"Who did this to you?"

"Has there been another attack?"

At the sounds of such cries, Sakura motioned for Hana to come with her and sprinted to the scene. It was not a good sight… more than a handful shinobi were injured, some of them even gravely wounded, drenched in blood.

"Move away!"

"It's Sakura-_san_! The rest of you, call the rest of the medical team immediately!"

"Help them get into the medical tent for treatment," yelled the Hokage's apprentice. "I will treat them there. Be careful with their injuries!" Then, she turned to Hana, saying, "I need you to report this to the chief. Tell him I'm here to help these people, but I would be expecting his status report right after I'm thru with things from this end."

"Understood," Hana followed. "Please excuse me."

With that, the two parted ways. Sakura entered the medical tent and immediately began to examine the injured shinobi. She began calling out for ingredients here and there, and then concentrated on focusing her healing charka on vital body points.

It was no small feat to injure about fifteen shinobi, but Sakura somehow managed to ward off deaths for now. She took a deep breath after all that hard work and took the seat of the medical officer in the meantime.

As she was browsing through the medical reports of some of the injured, two figures made their way into the lighted area of the tent right towards the medical officer's desk.

"Sakura-_san_, it's certainly a surprise to see you here," came Ryoko's greeting. "Doesn't Tsunade-_sama_ need you back at Konoha?"

"Ryoko-_kun_! And where is the chief I asked to meet with, Hana-_chan_?" the weary kunoichi asked.

"He is still finishing his discussion of contingency plans with the tactical team, but he promised to meet with you the moment he is through with it. I hope that's alright with you, Sakura-_san_," Hana answered apologetically. "I tried to get him to see you sooner but it seems that his job is overwhelming that I could not even begin to imagine myself handling _that_ kind of work…"

"It's alright… It seems that he's dealing with all this trouble rather well, I'd say."

The Hokage's apprentice continued to rummage through the files and photos. Sakura could feel the atmosphere was still filled with tension not just outside where shinobi were all hustling about…

"Was there anything else you needed, Ryoko-_kun_, Hana-_chan_?" she asked with a tone that sounded rather curious than impatient.

"Actually," Hana began, "we were wondering-"

"-if you know where Ino-_san_ is right now. Did you send her away on a different mission?"

"What do you mean," Sakura asked from behind her desk, momentarily disturbed by this inquiry. "Isn't she _supposed_ to be with _you_ guys?"

"I knew it," Ryoko concluded. "I knew that she was planning something, but I didn't know she would actually _do_ such a thing… and at such a time when everyone's preoccupied, too!"

"Wait, don't tell me-"

"She left, and she took us for fools," Ryoko cried, increasingly becoming infuriated. "That… that… that fool! Why won't she tell us anything? Why won't she trust us!"

"Calm down, Ryoko-_san­_, your anger won't help us solve anything…"

"I know that Hana-_chan_, but I sti-"

"She already told you to _calm down_, Ryoko-_kun_," Sakura started, her own anger beginning to show, "so don't _make_ me tell you a second time…"

The irate shinobi began to take some deep breaths and finally managed to cool his head off.

"I'm glad you managed to listen, Ryoko-_kun_. You should know that you're not the only one deeply concerned about her; aside from me there's Chouji, you, Hana-_chan_, her family, and a number of other people you don't even know."

"So…" Hana bravely ventured after a short while.

"So what?" the calmed man followed up.

"So what do we do now? We can't just leave her on her own… We don't know what she would do… even less so, we don't know why she's left…"

Silence filled the room, and it got to the point where it was even quite deafening. But the senior kunoichi broke the quiet.

"I think I may have an idea…"

"You do?" Ryoko asked in surprise. "If you have, why didn't you tell us before? What is it?"

"Watch your temper, Ryoko-_kun_. I'm not sure if I should even tell you about it…"

"What do you mean! We're her comrades!"

"I don't even _know_ if I even have the right to even begin talking about it…"

"Then why do _you _know if I presume you aren't even _supposed _to know about it yourself?"

"Now see here," Sakura indignantly cried as she stood up. "I wouldn't even _be _here if I wasn't even _concerned_ about you two and Ino! Don't even think that I don't care how her troubles are beginning to agitate you… Take a look at yourself now!"

The man felt a pang of shame… all anger left him immediately and was deeply mortified by his words and actions. He backed away a few steps and allowed himself to calm down completely once more before speaking up again, this time with more respect.

"Sorry about the way I acted, Sakura-_san_. I… didn't know, and completely crossed the line. I was too selfish and too caught up with my own worries to not have noticed your concern. I… Please forgive me."

"But still," Hana pursued bravely after a brief moment, "can't you tell us a bit of something about what's troubling her? Don't you owe us _that_ much, at the very least? We won't get over our worries if you know something we don't which could inevitably help us understand her…"

The pink-haired kunoichi sighed heavily, deliberating the matter seriously. But who was she to deny these two even a slight hint about her past? Aren't the two worth it, after all that they had done for her best friend? As she pondered upon these thoughts, she gave one heavy sigh yet again… She has decided to tell them.

"Does the name 'Nara Shikamaru' ring a bell to you guys?"

Ryoko scratched his head, and it was apparent that he knew nothing about the guy. Hana noticed this and gave him a reproving look before turning to their senior.

"Nara Shikamaru. Jounin. He became the only chuunin at the time he took the examinations with notable village ninjas such as Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Hyuuga Neji. He was assigned to lead a group of genin to retrieve the Uchiha, but failed. Still, he's one of the most brilliant shinobi of the Leaf."

"I'm glad that at least _one _of you knows at least the basic things about him. Do you know about the incident that lead to his… well…"

"Ah! Now that you mention it, weren't he and Chouji­-_san _her teammates way back when they were genin?"

"That's right."

"And wasn't he the one who… oh…"

"What? What happened?" the ignorant shinobi asked, getting more and more embarrassed but curious by the minute.

"He… he…"

"It's alright, Hana-_chan_," Sakura interrupted, "let me take things over from here. But first, would you mind calling one of the chief's messengers around? I would need to have him bring something to Tsunade-_sama_."

"Is it something about… well, Yamanaka-_san_?"

"We can't just ignore this, you know. I would need to consult Tsunade-_sama_ about her disappearance. You can't proceed with the mission as it is…"

"Can't we keep this to ourselves in the meantime, Sakura-_san_," Ryoko pleaded. "I must admit that it would not be the same without Yamanaka-_san_ and that we might not be as efficient as though she were here, but…"

"…we would not be able to control the situation and help Yamanaka-_san_ out if Hokage-_sama_ knew," Hana added. "Can we please keep this a secret, at least for now? When the time comes that things go out of hand _then_ we would not be able to help it and just tell the truth. Please, Sakura-_san_? For Yamanaka-_san_'s sake, _onegai_?"

The kunoichi felt that things were getting out of hand as they were, not to mention the major troubles that their village is facing. A headache was slowly building around her temples, but she chose not to soothe it with her chakra at the moment.

"I told you to call for a messenger… I won't be dissuaded; this matter cannot wait!"

The two began to object at first, but the pink-haired medic raised her finger to silence them. Ryoko stepped back to the side and Hana began to make her way towards the entrance of the tent as they both sighed in defeat.

"I'm writing a letter," Sakura addressed them both, "telling the Hokage that I won't be back anytime soon… I would be joining a certain reconnaissance unit to assist them with their intelligence duties for the time being…"

The two's faces lit up and turned their heads towards her.

"After all," she continued, "the Yamanaka intelligence team cannot operate without three members, right? I'll be helping you out for now. That is all, just to let you know."

Small tears began to well up in Hana's eyes, while Ryoko tried hard to control his own.

"_Arigatô gozaimasu_, Sakura-_san_," the two cried sincerely.

"Well, get to the chief immediately, Hana-_chan_, while I share the past with this ignorant little fool here. We can't afford to waste any more time."

"_Hai_," Hana cheerfully responded as Ryoko blushed with embarrassment.

"Don't forget to call in the chief!" Sakura called out as Hana continued to run past the tent opening. "He's been keeping me waiting for a long while now!"

The pink-haired kunoichi smiled to her self. She realized the trouble that she was getting herself into, but then again it was all worth it… now that it meant having her best friend back.

"Now where were we, Ryoko-_kun_?"

In a country relatively far from Hokuni

"Have you heard?"

"Yeah, can't say I believe it completely, though…"

"I understand what you mean. Kaze no Kuni is one big country with a rather sizable force that I can't even imagine how they fell so easily."

The atmosphere was filled with conversations and gossips about the Wind Country and Sand Village's rather quick downfall. Everyone in the taverns, inns and restaurants all over the village continued to make their own theories about it. The people thought that it happened so quickly that it would have only been so if the Kazekage himself surrendered his village entirely. Then again, none of the Kages of the great countries would even think of doing that, so how did it come to be?

That was the prevailing topic of discussion for everyone nowadays… that is, of course, save for one seemingly lost and out-of-place figure walking down the street under the blazing sun. The hooded person had been journeying for days now, hopping from one village to the next asking questions and investigating matters no other person cared much about. Who could this person be? The people only knew that this person was a stranger, a foreigner… but then again nobody cared.

The mysterious figure entered one of the local taverns and lowered down the hood to reveal a light-skinned woman who had blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. Everyone in the pub turned around and got the chance to sight quite a beauty, though she shied away to the table at the bar at the side as she tried to redirect the unwanted attention she was getting.

"The lightest wine you have to offer, please."

The blonde tried her hardest to ignore the persistent inkling she was having. Some of the guys in the place were back to their own conversations, but there were still a lot who were curious about this newcomer.

"There you go," said the bartender as he handed the drink.

The newcomer began to sip the drink, not completely trusting the bartender just yet, but when she finally accepted that nothing was amiss she drank it as quickly as she could.

"So," the bartender began, "what brings a rather fine lady like you to this part of the country? It's not like there's anything interesting going on around here."

"I'm just… looking around."

The bartender was silent for a while but spoke up once again, "Shinobi of the Leaf, eh?"

At this, the kunoichi grew alarmed and moved herself a bit away from the table she was leaning on.

"Heh, you are a sharp one," she admitted. "I _knew _I should've chosen another tavern…"

"Don't say that… it's just that your protector was showing right under you hood… see," he said, pointing to the forehead protector that the kunoichi had worn around her neck.

"Fine, fine… Mind if I ask you something, then," she asked in a whisper a bit irately.

"Hn? Fire away… oops, pun not intended…"

"Not funny, but since I'm here to ask, I suppose I should be… kind and everything…"

"Oi, I said- never mind."

"Just to let you know, I'm a Yamanaka so you better be careful… I'm not the type of person who goes easy on anyone."

"I get the picture."

"Good. So you have any news about something rather unusual lately?"

"Well, there's the Wind Country-"

"Don't give me that old hat of an issue; I don't care about that."

"You don't? Really… well, let me see now…"

The blonde kunoichi turned her head to the side to find some of the guys giving her suspicious looks. She could feel her anxiety building up by the second and she was beginning to regret even coming to this village. She began to arise from her seat but the bartender intruded.

"I don't know if this is anything noteworthy, but…"

"Well, out with it."

"I've heard that there's some sort of underground organization moving around various countries."

"The Akatsuki?"

"Heck no. I haven't heard about them in the past few months. I'm talking about something different, something more… mysterious."

"Drop the exaggeration."

"I'm not exaggerating. There haven't been any official reports confirming its existence, but there are rumors flying around that this group is a rather secretive organization with a sizable force, comparable to our nation's. No one knows what they're called nor who their members are, though…"

"Well, _that _was useful…"

"Hey!"

"But I must admit, it might be something worth checking out. Thanks for the-"

"Hey there, pretty little lady… What brings you to our humble little village?"

The Yamanaka was forced to turn around from her seat by one muscled guy, and she spotted that there were about ten other men who had surrounded her. Not to be intimidated even though she was very anxious, the kunoichi stood up.

"Is this the way you treat strangers? You grab people by the arm and harass them?"

"Oi, who said that we were harassing you? We just wanted to know why a beautiful woman is in this tavern."

"And how is that _any _of _your_ business, huh?"

Weak sounds of "ooh" resounded all over the place.

_This is not good… I don't want any trouble, but I can't let them have their way… I might find myself in a sticky situation if I stick around any longer… Then again, they may be part of that secretive organization the bartender was talking about._

"Why don't you come with us? We'd like to show you around…"

"Thanks, but no thanks," snubbed the now impatient woman. She began to make her way towards the door as she said, "I know my way around, so-"

"Hey, we _said _that we would like to show you around. _No one_ ignores me…"

"And _no one _harasses me. So if you'll excuse me-"

"Why you!"

At this point, the bulky man made his way to grab her arm, but the kunoichi was keen enough to spot his action and leapt away.

_This is bad. I better get out of town quick._

She forced her way through the nearby window, shattering it into a hundred pieces. The group of men followed her through the streets. Ino found herself gaining some distance from the rough ruffians of the tavern as she leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

She thought she was safe after a few minutes, but she spotted fifteen different people – shinobi, she thought, from the suits they wore – who came from out of nowhere. She found herself surrounded by these guys who distanced themselves about ten feet from her, so she thought hard and tried to come up with a plan quickly.

"No one harm her," cried one of them. "She is not to be touched until the captain arrives!"

"Oi," the Yamanaka yelled, "who sent you?"

She waited for a response, but none of the fifteen shinobi answered.

_Darn it… I didn't know those ruffians from the tavern had some backup… Or maybe…_

She began to form some seals inconspicuously for a very short while, and then she put her plan into action.

"_Shinranshin no jutsu_!"

The blonde kunoichi caught two enemy shinobi by surprise, and so their confusion kept five others busy at the moment. It left her an opening, and she took the opportunity as she sprinted away. The rest of the enemy decided to chase her, and so they all ended up running through one alleyway to another.

Ino was too busy maneuvering through the clotheslines across the buildings that she did not notice the binding technique one of her seekers was preparing. Once the shinobi was complete, the jutsu summoned the nearby ropes, making their way to the escaping kunoichi's legs and tied them together as the ropes turned to metal wire as tough as steel. The Yamanaka was forced down to the ground pretty roughly, and she felt a piercing pain in her legs and left arm which she fell on.

_Ugh… How did I get myself into this mess? I wonder how I could manage to get out of this one…_

"Do not struggle any longer," one of the shinobi called out as they managed to catch up with her. "We really do not intend to harm you."

"Really? And what do you _really _intend to do with me?"

There was that silence yet again.

"Well, I don't intend to give myself up to you guys! Just… let… me… go," she cried as she struggled against the tightly bound ropes.

"I spotted her! She went this way," came an increasingly loud call from just around the corner.

"_Kuso_," one of the shinobi cursed. "Let's fall back for now… We can't let anyone spot us!"

"_Chotto_," the tied kunoichi called out, "aren't they with _you _guys?"

"Those ruffians?" the man answered in disbelief and disgust. "We would never even _consider _teaming with those people."

"Then let me go! Untie these ropes!"

"I'm sorry but I can't do that… Once they tie you up they won't come loose until after a few hours."

"Great. I manage to get caught by a bunch of imbeciles who can't even undo their own jutsu… I said wait!"

But the mysterious shinobi had already disappeared from her sight. Just as they did, the men from the tavern appeared and saw her.

_What am I supposed to do now? _Kuso

"Oh good, she's tied down like a good little girl," the bulky man from earlier said maliciously. "_Now_ we can have our way with her!"

"Don't you DARE touch me!" she tried to cry threateningly as tears of fear were beginning to show from her eyes. But it did nothing to stop the men from closing in on her.

The Yamanaka sat up and tried to back away. Unfortunately for her, she soon found her back against the wall. Her mind was racing wildly now… There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.

"Somebody! Anybody!"

Alas, there was no one nearby to even hear her desperate cries for help. The tears openly flowed from her eyes now, and her vision was beginning to blur.

_Somebody… _

_Anybody… _

_Help me, please…_

_Shikamaru-_kun_, where _are _you! I need you!_

And with that last desperate cry, everything turned black.

* * *

A/N: How was it? Did you feel all the tension towards the end? Do you think I'm improving? I hope I am, because I was thinking that it was getting too tense for comfort, even for _me_. Also, I tried imagining the latter part with some sort of tense music, and it felt so right.

At any rate, my classes are about to resume very soon, but expect at least one more update before our pairing's birthdays. I _think_ I might be able to update a bit more frequently this time around, but I'd have to say that the new chapters would be posted more sporadically. I hope you don't give up on me just yet!

Liked it? Hated it? Share your comments in your review! _Dômo arigatô gozaimasu!_


End file.
